8% growth remote, PM wants farm on fast track

Singh suggests longer terms for bureaucrats for better results

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for an overhaul of the country's agriculture strategy after the government realised it was nowhere near achieving an eight per cent economic growth, as envisaged in the Tenth Five-Year Plan.

"The growth target for the Tenth Plan was set at 8.1 per cent and the mid-term appraisal shows that the performance thus far is well below this target. Our government set a target of 7-8 per cent in the remaining two years of the 10th Plan (2005-07). However, even if we achieve this acceleration, we cannot achieve the original Tenth Plan target of 8 per cent growth," Singh told chief ministers at the 51st National Development Council meeting here.

Asking states to aim at doubling agriculture production in 10 years, Singh said, "Indian agriculture in future must move from the traditional grain-based strategy towards diversification, emphasising horticulture, poultry, livestock and fisheries."

He suggested that an NDC sub-committee could be considered to work out the necessary steps for action.

In order to improve the quality of district administrations, he said it was necessary that civil servants were provided security of tenure.

"No system of governance can deliver if its officers are changed without notice. Short tenures do not produce accountable results," he said.

Underscoring the need to provide industry with better infrastructure, in the wake of a below double-digit growth rate in the manufacturing sector, Singh said states should restore the financial health of their electricity agencies.

"I suggest that we should aim to bring down the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses by 10 percentage points in two years and I believe with your support and commitment, this can be done," he said.

He also urged states to assist in checking unplanned roadside development, which he said was threatening to devalue and impair road assets being created.

Referring to social sectors, the Prime Minister said the lack of improvement in maternal mortality rates in the past decade was a matter of national shame. He also asked states to pay more attention to the challenge posed by HIV-AIDS.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in his address, identified high crude oil prices, increasing regional imbalance across states, employment and poor infrastructure as "areas of weakness" in the mid-term appraisal and called for corrective action.

Ahluwalia also said the policy of free or very cheap power for farmers led to the misuse of water because it encouraged excessive withdrawal of groundwater.

The 51st NDC meeting, which is being chaired by the Prime Minister will discuss the 377 recommendations made in the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the Tenth Plan, a performance review of all sectors of the economy in the first three years of the Tenth Plan. The meeting is being attended by all chief ministers, governors and cabinet ministers.

This is the first NDC meeting under the UPA government. The meeting will deliberate on certain critical policy issues like minority stake sale in profit-making PSUs, allowing foreign participation in domestic air operations, power sector reforms, increasing investment in agriculture, irrigation and water management issues.