ANDHRA PRADESH ANNUAL PLAN FINALIZED

    In his opening remarks Shri Pant complimented the State for Plan performance during Ninth Plan. He said Andhra Pradesh was likely to exceed the Plan target for the Ninth Plan. It has already achieved 82 per cent of Ninth Plan outlay targets which is highest among all States. He complimented the Chief Minister for the earnest pursuit of economic reforms. He said initiatives like single window clearance, electronic governance, water users associations and other peoples- centered measures were steps in the right direction. The State has successfully attracted private investments in infrastructure and health care.

    State’s efforts in making remarkable achievement in the field of information technology and attracting indigenous and foreign investors to knowledge based sector were also appreciated. Shri Pant said Hyderabad has now been brought on the global map of information technology. The State Government was also appreciated for improvement in poverty in the rural areas. It was pointed out that rural poverty has declined from 15.82 per cent in 1993-94 to 11.05 per cent in 1999-2000. Efforts of the women empowering self-help groups in alleviation of poverty were also commended.

    Attention of the State was drawn to the financial crisis due to growing debt because of rising public expenditure on subsidies, salaries and pensions. The State was suggested to pursue implementation of fiscal reforms. It was pointed out that average annual growth rate GSDP
and per capita SDP were lower than all-India average. Lower position of the State in the literacy index and wide gap between urban and rural literacy were a cause of concern. The State should take immediate measures to reduce the burden on the State exchequer because of the losses incurred by PSUs. Other measures recommended include priority to the completion of ongoing schemes so as to avoid cost escalation and delaying of benefits.

    Briefing the Commission, Shri Chandrababu Naidu said the goals under vision 2020 have been set. These include eradication of poverty, development of backward areas, basic minimum services to the people and to establish a knowledge society. He said the main growth targets are GSDP growth rate at 10 per cent, per capita growth rate of 0 per cent, population growth rate of 0.8 per cent and total literacy by 2005. He said State has achieved growth rate of 6.75 per cent in 2000-2001 against the all-India growth rate of 5.2 per cent. Growth targets for the next year have been fixed at 8.1 per cent.