Mid-term Plan review soon

Concerned that the ongoing general elections could impact initiatives taken to check the global economic slowdown,the Planning Commission has initiated the process of carrying out a mid-term review of the Eleventh Plan. This is aimed at taking stock of how these initiatives are translating at the state level and to carry out mid-course corrections if needed.

For the first time,it has decided to involve private agencies in assessing the fiscal health of states and also the level of achievements in the monitorable targets set for the eleventh plan. The agencies likely to be involved in the process could be ICRIER,CMIE and NCAER besides consultancy firms like KPMG and Ernst amp; Young. The sectors which may be given more emphasis are agriculture,manufacturing and rural development. The process likely to be initiated next month would involve earmarking one agency for each state,which would evaluate the states financial position,impact of the stimulus packages and the progress made on monitorable social sector targets set for the states.

Informed sources in the Planning Commission indicate that the agencies would be expected to submit reports by the middle of June so as to provide valuable inputs in the process of mid-term review,which is already due.

The global slowdown has already impacted Indias growth projections and the Eleventh Plan target of nine per cent growth is almost unreachable. Moreover,it has begun having a major impact in sectors like agriculture,which may need mid-course correction of policy. Agriculture growth spiraled down to 2.2 per cent in the third quarter of the last fiscal as against 2.7 per cent in the second quarter and 3 per cent in the first three months of the last fiscal. Moreover,fresh measures may be needed to check job losses and revive manufacturing sectors. Manufacturing growth slumped to 2.8 per cent in April-February 2008-09 against 9.3 per cent in the same period the previous fiscal.