The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has justified the diesel price hike saying it is an important step in the right direction. Addressing the 12th Plan Meet in New Delhi this morning, Dr.Singh said, energy is a difficult area and our energy prices are out of line with the world prices. He said rational energy pricing is therefore critical.
Dr. Singh also defended the push given to economic reforms by allowing FDI in Retail sector and other measures saying said, there is a need to revive investment environment. Conceding that the fiscal deficit of the country is too high Dr. Singh said that it must be brought down to release domestic resources for productive deployment in the economy.He said the 12th Plan projects a current account deficit of 2.9 per cent of GDP. He said,this must be financed mainly through Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Institutional Investment flows so that reliance on external debt is limited.
Dr.singh said the aim of the government is not just growth of GDP but an inclusive and sustainable growth. Emphasising that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the weaker sections must participate fully in the growth process, he said the most important area for immediate action is to speed up the pace of implementation of infrastructure projects. He said that the Plan growth target has been revised to 8.2 per cent from 9 per cent as estimated earlier.
Referring to the agriculture growth, he said, it must be accelerated to about 4 per cent which was 3.3 per cent in the 11th plan. He also underlined the need for speedy growth in the manufacturing sector to generate employment in the country.