The progress in the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) is broadly in line with the targets. The overall expenditure will be about the same as targeted. The Plan had sought to accelerate growth to an average 9% a year during the five years, while making it more inclusive for the benefit of the disadvantaged people, who did not benefit from the economic expansion in the previous years to the extent they ought to. Although the projected annual growth rate of 9% was affected by the global economic recession and the worst draught in almost three decades, I am confident that by the end of the plan period, we will be back to the 9% growth rate.
One vital issue that deserves urgent attention is the effectiveness in implementing welfare programmes. We need innovation in the implementation of government schemes. We need to increase the capacity of grass root level institutions so that delivery of programmes becomes much more effective. While we have enough capacity to achieve 9% growth, its sustainability depends on the level of inclusiveness of growth. Therefore, education, health, sanitation and employability of people and the ability of the grass root level institutions need to be improved. Effective implementation of the programmes and innovation at the grass root level institutions are extremely important for sustainability of economic growth.
Now there are four a few areas that need urgent attention.
First among these is the set of reforms in the agriculture sector. Our entire approach to agriculture needs to be refurbished. Agriculture productivity is getting constrained by water availability and condition of soil. We need innovation in these two areas as well as in the marketing of agriculture produce and the infrastructure facilities for that.
The second issue that needs immediate attention is the water situation in the country. Third is the governance of the various government programmes more targeted to human resource development. These comprise education, health and employment generation. The administration of these programmes should improve so that they are delivered more efficiently and leads to more concrete output. The critical issue here is the effective delivery at lesser cost.
In the power sector, we have reasons to cheer. The quantum of power that is coming into stream during the eleventh plan is three times the capacity achieved during the tenth plan. Even if we do not exceed the target for the eleventh plan, we have made substantial progress in our power generation capacity.
The next area which needs attention is the manufacturing sector, which has not been pulling its weight. The manufacturing sector has been growing in line with the overall economy, but it needs to be the engine of economic growth. Therefore we need a strategy for the manufacturing sector, especially for those that lead to more employment generation and value addition.