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Budgetary support for Ninth Plan likely to go up

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Madhu Dandavate on Tuesday hinted at an increase in the gross budgetary support for the Ninth Plan.

Speaking at the National Conference of State Backward Classes Commission, Professor Dandavate said the gross budgetary support was likely to be Rs 3,740 billion. Earlier, the National Development Council had decided that provided for a gross budgetary support of Rs 3,670 billion during the Ninth Plan period.

Dandavate said there would be no cuts in Ninth Plan public sector outlay which had been estimated at Rs 8,750 billion.

The deputy chairman strongly supported the concept of cross subsidisation for a society where even today nearly 40 per cent of the population was living below poverty line. He said the richer section of society would be required to fund the basic needs of the weaker section.

Dandavate said there exists a strong case for the introduction of presumptive tax to improve the resource position. He said the tax base needs to be widened and more people included in the tax bracket. He pointed out that against 85 per cent of the population paying taxes in Denmark, in the 1980s, only 0.9 per cent of the population was paying taxes in India.

Dandavate said the voluntary organisation and social activists would be required to be more vigilant in the days to come so as to ensure that the due share reaches the weaker section of society. He pointed out that centrally-sponsored schemes worth Rs 120 billion are being passed to the states and Panchayati Raj (village assembly) institutions. Only schemes of interstate nature would be retained with the Centre.

On priorities during the Ninth Plan, the deputy chairman categorically stated that agriculture and rural development, which contribute nearly 35 per cent of the GDP, would be the first priority. He said this sector is responsible for nearly 65 per cent of the employment generation.

Dandavate stated that for the first time in the history of independent India, the objectives of a five-year plan have clearly indicated that the scheduled castes and tribes, other backward classes, women, and minorities would be the agents of socio-economic change. He said it was the responsibility of the state to work out schemes for the realisation of this objective.

During 1997-98, Rs 511.8 million have been provided for educational schemes for the welfare of the OBCs. He warned that for the effective upliftment of the weaker sections, equal emphasis needed to be laid on training programmes.

He said preferential treatment at both the training and employment levels has to be ensured for these people to make them equal partners in the development of the nations.

UNI