9% growth biggest challenge, says PM

9% growth biggest challenge, says PM
The Financial Express, August 16, Page 1

fe Bureaus, New Delhi

Against the spectre of looming drought, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said restoring the GDP growth rate to 9% was the biggest challenge before the country even as he spelt out sops for the agriculture sector and promised to make all efforts to control rising prices “so that not even a single citizen of India should ever go hungry”.

“Our economy grew at a rate of about 9% from the year 2004-05 to the year 2007-08. This growth rate came down to 6.7% in 2008-09 due to the global economic crisis. It is only a result of our policies that the global crisis has affected us to a lesser extent than many other countries. Restoring our growth rate to 9% is the greatest challenge we face,” he said in his address to the nation on Independence Day.

Cautioning that drought could have an adverse impact on the economy, he promised that his government would “make every necessary effort to meet this challenge - whether it is for increasing capital flows into the country, or for encouraging exports or for increasing public investment and expenditure”.

“We expect that there will be an improvement in the situation by the end of this year, but till that time we will all have to bear with the fallout of the global economic slowdown,” he said.

Sending a positive message to the farming community, Singh said his government would extend full support to farmers, including postponing of their loans and deferring interest rates because of the impending drought situation. “We will provide all possible assistance to our farmers to deal with the drought. In view of the deficiency in the monsoons, we have postponed the date for repayment of bank loans of our farmers. We are also giving additional support to farmers for payment of interest on short-term crop loans,” the Prime Minister said from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Contending that the country needed another green revolution, he said the UPA government was now aiming for 4% annual growth in the agriculture sector, which he was confident of achieving in the next five years. “We will have to adopt modern means to be successful in agriculture. We will have to make more efficient use of our scarce land and water resources. Our scientists must devise new techniques to increase the productivity of our small and marginal farmers. More attention will have to be paid to the needs of those farmers who do not have means for irrigation,” he said.

He also appealed to the business community to fulfill their social obligations by joining the government’s efforts to ensure inclusive growth.

Singh also sent a strong signal on curbing high prices by urging state governments to exercise their statutory powers to prevent hoarding and black marketing of essential commodities. To ensure that no one goes hungry, he said the government is working to bring a food security Bill that provides for supply of 25 kg of rice or wheat at Rs 3 a kg to families living below poverty line. Touching upon issues related to health, Singh referred to the H1N1 virus and said the public should not panic. “I want to assure you that the situation does not warrant a disruption of our daily lives because of fear and anxiety,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s speech also referred to the aam admi and made several promises to further improvement in the National Rural Employment Guarantees Scheme (NREGS), and extension of the Integrated Community Development Scheme (ICDS) to every child below six years by March 2012.

He also hailed the Right to Education Act, saying money should be no issue in expanding education. To this end, he announced a new scheme to help poor students by way of reduced interest rates on their education loans. This will benefit about 5 lakh students in getting technical and professional education, he said.

Discounting reports that the Jawaharalal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the urban areas was not working, the Prime Minister e said the programme would be accelerated. He announced that the Rajiv Awas Yojana will provide better housing to slum dwellers.