New Delhi, October 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said there was an urgent need to get over the air of negativism that has gripped the country.
Addressing the 56th meeting of the country’s apex policy making body, the National Development Council (NDC), the Prime Minister said India’s economy has grown significantly since the UPA government came to power.
The government has a large role to play in country’s progress and its aim has always been inclusive growth, the PM added. Appreciating states’ role in development, Singh said that the states have shown good growth over the years.
Manmohan further said that the economic slowdown in the country is a matter of concern but it should be viewed as a short-term phenomenon in the backdrop of the slowdown in the industrialised Western world.
Developments in the world economy and the neighbourhood should be considered while charting the Twelfth Five Year Plan, he added
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the past seven years has been able to achieve an annual growth rate of 8.5 percent, he pointed out.
Despite liberalisation of the economy, the government had a major role in providing a policy environment, development of infrastructure, livelihood support and access to public services.
Regarding public services, the prime minister said the masses should be provided facilities in health, skill development, education and sanitation. Otherwise “effective inclusion is not possible”, he added.
The NDC meeting has been mainly called to discuss the ‘Approach Paper’ to the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) envisaging 9 percent annual economic growth. The NDC will also take stock of the economy in the backdrop of sluggish growth and persistent high inflation, which is hovering around the double-digit mark.
The country is estimated to register an average growth rate of 8.2 percent in the current Plan (2007-12). The NDC, headed by PM Manmohan Singh, has all Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers and members of the Planning Commission on its board.
—-Agencies