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Pant briefs Vajpayee on Tenth Plan draft

Ahead of the full Planning Commission meeting scheduled for October 5, Deputy Chairman K C Pant met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday to discuss issues relating to the Tenth Plan.

Pant is understood to have briefed the prime minister about the targets and objectives of the Tenth Five-Year Plan during the hour-long meeting, official sources said in New Delhi.

The draft Tenth Plan document which envisages an eight per cent GDP growth rate during 2002-07 is expected to be approved by the full Planning Commission meeting under the chairmanship of the prime minister on October 5.

Pant said the major concern before the government was that "the economy has to grow at a rate and in a manner to meet the needs of the people on one hand and ensure basic strengths of the country on the other".

The present environment of globalisation calls for greater competition in industry, the need to push ahead with reforms to speed up the process of development while at the same time taking note of the large number of people living below the poverty line, he said.

Agreeing that the fiscal situation was a matter of concern, Pant said the commission was in favour of a review of the present budget classification as it did not "reflect our needs".

Pant said the budget continued to focus on fiscal and revenue deficit but the classification of loans and grants to states under these heads often did not reflect the true picture.

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