Suggesting that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) has been a key instrument in financially empowering the rural populace, the Planning Commission today made out a case for expanding the flagship mission from one person per family to every person in a family in 1,000 most backward blocks of the country along with appropriate budgetary support.

Arguing that the budgetary allocation on social sector programmes be significantly hiked in the wake of enhanced commitments, the plan panel has argued that allocations should go up proportionally vis-à-vis the GDP ratio. “I believe there is a case for raising the level of spending on social sectors vis-à-vis the GDP. Spending up to the level of Rs 40,000 crore would be reasonable. Since the government’s emphasis on the social sector is a well-known one, the implementation should be more focused and in areas where it is needed more,” Commission member Mihir Shah told The Indian Express.

‘Roll back stimulus’

New Delhi: The Planning Commission has suggested the government should roll back steps to stimulate the economy as emergency measures cannot be allowed to continue endlessly. “These were emergency measures that we had taken... they should be rolled back... may be from September,” plan panel member Saumitra Chaudhuri said. PTI