Reforms to get top priority in 12th Plan period: PM

Hard Target: Prime Minister set to take difficult decisions for 9% growth.

In a bid to overcome the criticism of policy-paralysis,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that in the 12th Plan (2012-17) his government would give a renewed thrust to second generation reforms and forge a political consensus to this effect. He said the government would strive to achieve 9.2 per cent growth in the Plan period and that difficult decisions will have to be taken to achieve the target.

During the meeting of full Planning Commission,Singh said his government hoped to generate a climate of opinion whereby all political parties would unite to push forward reforms programme.

That will be our priority number one,to push the reform process forward. In many cases they involve legislative action and we do not have the type of majority which is necessary to put in place,for example the goods and services tax. We want financial sector reforms like insurance sector reforms, he said.

Recalling that there was a lot of opposition to reforms when they were launched in 1991,the PM said,The subsequent governments at the Centre during the last 20 years have broadly kept to the path which was outlined during 1991-95.

The PM said it is possible that the Plan panel may raise the growth rate to 9.2 per cent but warned that the GDP growth target is feasible only if we can take some difficult decisions.

Amid the outcry over corruption,the Plan panel said rapid economic growth has led to sharp increase in the value of natural resources,telecom spectrum and land.

As long as these resources are alloted on a non-transparent manner,the likelihood of corruption increases, the Panel said. It said that in the absence of effective mechanisms for investigating corrupt practices,an increase in corruption is unavoidable.