Banglore, March 23: The Plan size for Karnataka for 2011-12 has been fixed at Rs. 38,070 crore.
This was decided at a meeting held by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and his team, including Ministers and officials, with the Planning Commission team comprising its Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and his officials, here on Tuesday.
Addressing the meeting, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that Karnataka was one of the few major States that had consistently realised more resources than what was budgeted in the Five Year Plans.
“The State is likely to achieve an expenditure of Rs. 1,14,006 crore against an allocation of Rs. 1,01,664 crore in the 11th Five Year Plan. All the sectors are expected to perform reasonably well,” he said.
Increased allocation
The Plan outlay for 2011-12 reflected the Government’s priorities when compared to allocations for various sectors during 2010-11.
For 2011-12, allocations had been considerably increased: for agriculture by 63 per cent over the previous year (2010-11), for irrigation by 55 per cent, for energy by 31 per cent, for rural development by 22 per cent and for housing by 33 per cent.
Agricultural growth rate in Karnataka, which was of serious concern owing to frequent droughts and the floods in the past 10 years, had shown marked improvement. “Advance estimates of foodgrains production of 125 lakh tonnes for 2010-11 is an all-time record for Karnataka,” Mr. Yeddyurappa told the meeting. He said that Karnataka was a pioneer in industry. For several years the State had been consistently pursuing progressive industrial policies to meet the changing needs of econom.
“In recent times, it has emerged as the knowledge and technology capital of the country making rapid strides in the new economy as well. IT related industries, bio technology and strong research and development institutions have given Karnataka a pride of place in the global market,” he said.
Dr. Ahluwalia, in his remarks, said though Karnataka’s performance was strong, it witnessed fluctuation in growth rates. It had a very high growth rate (in terms of GSDP at constant prices) of 12.92 per cent during 2007-08, but this had declined sharply to 5.08 per cent during 2008-09.
–Agencies