Taking a step further in finalising the 12th Plan (2012-17) document, the government is all set to give its nod to the “Approach Paper” on Thursday as the issue is high on agenda of the meeting of the Union Cabinet. The approach
envisages nine per cent annual economic growth in the five-year period, up from 8.2 per cent estimated in the current Plan and also a full chapter on “governance and corruption”.
Sources in the government said, “The matter relating to the Approach Paper for the 12 Plan is listed in the agenda of the meeting of Union Cabinet on Thursday, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.”
The Approach Paper, which provides a broad framework of the government policy to be pursued in the five-year period, has fixed the desired growth rate of nine per cent per year for the next five years.
On August 20, the full Planning Commission headed by the Prime Minister had approved the approach and now once cleared by the Union Cabinet, it will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), which also comprises of chief ministers, for final vetting. The NDC is likely to meet in October to discuss and approve the document, sources said.
Apart from giving more emphasis on “inclusive growth”, for the first time the Approach Paper has a chapter on governance and corruption. It suggests that measures should be taken “to set up new institutions like the Lokpal and Lokayukta”.
Maintaining that corruption at various levels of administration is weakening the confidence of citizens in the “quality of governance” it claimed that the present system provides ample opportunity to “rich and powerful” to manipulate the state of affairs in their favour.
Highlighting and anticipating “intense conflict” over land and water, which are prerequisite to development, the approach paper argues in favour of evolving “institutional mechanism” to deal with such issues.