The country's economic growth has not been fully reflected in social indicators such as improved life expectancy and level of nutrition, C. Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, said on Wednesday.
Talking to journalists here, Dr. Rangarajan said growth helped in addressing poverty and improving living standards.
“In my view, growth is important in our efforts to improve social indicators. The biggest growth has been in the last decade. If we continue to grow, the surplus required to launch programmes for improving the social indicators could be generated,” he said when asked whether the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reported admission that 42 per cent of Indian children were underweight was a ‘national shame' was tantamount to accepting that the economic growth so far has not been inclusive.
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Dr. Rangarajan, however, said that while it was difficult to estimate the level of malnutrition, poverty could be reduced by one percentage point per annum. “If we continue to grow by 8 to 9 per cent and sustain it over the next decade, we can reduce poverty by 10 per cent,” he said.
Dr. Rangarajan was here to deliver the inaugural lecture of the Institute Lecture series of the Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirapalli.
On the pace of implementation of the current Five-Year Plan, he said corrective measures were put in place after a mid-term appraisal. For instance, the performance of the power sector during the 11 Plan was distinctly better than that of the previous Plan period, though the target could not be achieved. He exuded hope that the figures would improve in the final year.
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For the small industries sector, power shortage was a major problem. While there was a need to work in the direction of infusing vibrancy in the debt market for the benefit of small and medium industries, the most important factor was availability of adequate power, he said.