The Planning Commission Friday approved Gujarat’s annual Plan of Rs 38,000 crore for 2011-12, up from Rs 30,000 crore in the previous fiscal.
The state annual Plan was finalised here at a meeting between Commission’s Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“We’ve had a full discussion looking at Gujarat’s economic performance during the 11th plan, in particular last year. The general consensus that emerged was that Gujarat has done extremely well on the economic front; it is one of the leading states in terms of growth”, Ahluwalia told reporters after the meeting.
However, he urged Modi to “pay more attention” to social sector development in the state.
Briefing the media, Modi said: “Gujarat is successfully moving towards balanced economic growth. In the coming days, we will be laying stress on women empowerment, as a part of which we have started a ‘Mission Mangalam’ scheme.”
He said the state has decided to focus on animal husbandry in its tribal-dominated belt for their economic advancement.
“We also want to focus on road building and infrastructure development in the tribal dominated districts of Dangs and Dahod,” Modi added.
He said the state would focus on providing affordable healthcare to the urban poor.
“Our aim is to provide healthcare to the maximum number of urban poor at the lowest cost. We are moving in this direction,” Modi said.
An official release after the meeting said that Ahluwalia appreciated Gujarat’s efforts in improving the pace of development and creating a investment-friendly environment.
The Plan panel chief said the state has done well in building up public-private partnership in major projects, as well as in urbanisation and industrialisation.
However, Ahluwalia said that though Gujarat’s state GDP (GSDP) for the last five years was around 10.3 per cent and growth rate continued to be better than the national average, some fluctuations were noticeable in the growth rate.
The contribution by agriculture and allied sectors to the state’s economy has fall steadily, said the Plan panel chief.
Besides, Ahluwalia said that more attention was needed in health sector where improvements were slow.
As per the official release, Modi said that there has been a steady rise in Gujarat’s development expenditure over the last few years on account of greater public spending in education, health, nutrition, water supply, welfare of weaker sections, agriculture and irrigation.