NEW DELHI: The chief ministers of the non-Congress ruled states accorded at the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) that states should be consulted on vital economic issues like formulation of the terms of reference of the 10th Finance Commission and international borrowing to tide over the balance of payment crisis.
Although the BJP chief ministers were in agreement with the broad economic policies of the Center they too agreed that the development of the country could not be left entirely to market forces. The thrust of the speeches at the meeting was that the government should go in for direct interventionist policies not only for poverty alleviation but also for employment generation and for providing a safety net to the weaker sections.
As expected the sharpest criticism against the plan and the Centers economic policies emanated from the West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Bosu who wanted states to be consulted or another meeting of the NDC called before the Center took any decision on the banking reforms recommended by the Narasimham committee He warned the Center against implementing these recommendations without such a deliberation.
The chief ministers of the BJP ruled states Bhairon Singh Shekhawatof Rajasthan Sunderial Patwa of Madhya Pradesh Shanta Kumar of Himachal Pradesh and Kalyan Singh of UP made it absolutely clear that the terms of reference of the 10th Finance Commission should not be formulated without states having their say.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha alleged that the Eighth Plan tended to shift responsibility to states without accompanying shift in sharing of resources. She wanted tax benefits connected with saving schemes to be restored. The Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav said instead of giving dearness allowance employees should be given tax exemption.
The two day meeting of the NDC was called to approve the Zighth Plan document Besides the Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao who is the chairman of the Planning Commission and Pranab Mukherjee Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission those who spoke included chief ministers of Andra Arunachal Gujarat Haryana Himachal Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya Rajasthan Tamil Nadu UP and West Bengal and governors of Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland.
The Prime Minister said restructuring of the central public sector enterprises was under active consideration and urged the chief ministers to initiate similar action in states. He said the policy changes initiated recently on the economic wade and financial fronts represented a good beginning. These needed to be carried further and the pace of reforms sustained to reap their full benefits.
Rao said the market could serve as a device for promoting efficiency but the conditions in India were different. We cannot rely on the market to fulfill the needs to our people. We cannot provide education and health for all through the market he said.
He said planning would continue to have a crucial role to play in a number of areas particularly in macroeconomic management. He said the realization of the projected level of investment and objectives called for a well-conceived set of macro-economic policies and utmost financial discipline on the part of Central and state governments.
According to the Prime Minister the plan proposed a significant shift in investment in favor of agriculture and allied sectors Investment in agriculture had been declining over the years.
The relative share of the infrastructure sector is proposed to be maintained to strengthen the foundations of the growth in the future he said. Rao said the private sector would be given a larger share than before in a number of areas like electricity communications oil and coal petrochemicals heavy capital goods industries and organized commercial services He urged the private sector to rise to the occasion and continue substantially to the development of these sectors.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1992
