Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said there are lots of positives in India's growth during the past 10 years as the development has been "inclusive".
Delivering a lecture here at Ravenshaw University, he sought to drive home the point that India's economic report card under UPA I and II had been the best the country has ever seen. "Growth in the past decade has been better than the previous one," he said.
"India may not be able to achieve its targeted growth of 12th Plan, mainly because of the global slowdown, but I am sure the growth we have achieved during the past 10 years has been much more inclusive," Ahluwalia said.
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There had been a sharp reduction of population below poverty line, and percentage of population depending on agriculture started to decline, he said.
He said more than 140 million people have crossed over from below poverty line to above poverty line between 2004 and 2011 and for the first time after Independence, the country is witnessing a decline in people depending on agriculture.
"A transformation from agricultural economy to non- agricultural economy is one of the prerequisite to achieve rapid economic growth," Montek said.
Ahluwalia expressed satisfaction that the country has witnessed uniformity in growth over these years in which the Bimarou (Putting Odisha into the acronym along with Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states have achieved commendable growths during the past decade.
The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, however, advocated that India needs macro-economic stability to achieve the targets set up for the 12th Plan and went on to advocate for more and more investments in infrastructure by reducing fiscal deficit.
