Mid-term appraisal of Tenth Plan on June 27

The National Development Council (NDC), slated to meet on June 27-28, will have a single-point agenda: the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07).

"The focus will be on health, education, employment, state finances, agriculture, and irrigation. These form a part of the corrective agenda on which a credible start can be made in the remaining part of the Tenth Plan," said Planning Commission officials today.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who wants an interactive meeting to result in concrete "outcomes", has asked chief ministers to respond to a list of questions in their speeches.

Other than asking for states' suggestions on setting up mechanisms to set a price for power and water, Singh has asked them for ways to improve public-private partnerships at the state level to fund investment in infrastructure.

Suggestions on building managerial and technical capacity for building roads under the Bharat Nirman programme have also been called for.

The rural development programme aims to connect all villages, having more than a 1000 population, with roads by 2009.

Views have also been solicited for making the National Food for Work Programme and the proposed National Rural Employment Guarantee Act more effective.

States have also been asked to suggest ways to improve the teaching quality in primary education, encourage involvement of the private sector in secondary education and to implement the national rural health mission effectively.

The chief ministers will be required to explain specific steps taken by their respective states to encourage agriculture diversification and reduce losses in irrigation departments.

In order to save time, however, the chief ministers may be asked to circulate written copies of their speeches, which will be "taken as read", said officials.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh will also participate in the interactive meeting.