FOCUSED ATTENTION NEEDED TO REDUCE POVERTY
BIHAR,MP,ORISSA AND UP ACCOUNT FOR
TWO THIRD OF COUNTRY'S POOR : PANT
The Deputy Chairman
Planning Commission, Sh. K.C.Pant said today that poverty reduction
efforts should focus on the States having high incidence of poverty.
Poverty projections suggest that inter-State variations will increase
further. Inaugurating the retreat on State Human Development Report
in Goa today, he said Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar
Pradesh will account for two thirds of country’s poor and focused
attention to these States was required if target of poverty reduction
was to be achieved.
Sh. Pant said employment
creation has emerged as the biggest challenge for the planners
and efforts were on to identify the specific activities that are
employment-intensive and recommend policy suggestions to promote
them. Demographic changes are leading to the emergence of a large
number of people in the working age group. He said low unemployment
rate and high poverty ratio suggest that low wages and productivity
are the basic problems and need is to create employment which
could lead to value addition and higher wages for those working
at below subsistence wages. He said there is need to create greater
employment in non-farm rural sector.
He said the Planning
Commission on its part was concerned about the social targets
and has placed them in the category which would be monitored continuously
during the tenth plan period. He said the Commission has thus
attempted to make the Government accountable to the people for
the achievement of these targets. Appreciating the efforts of
the Government in the sectors of education and health, he said
a lot has to be done in these sectors for bringing about reduction
in the poverty.
He said both Centre
and States will have to pool their resources and efforts to achieve
the monitorable targets. The Planning Commission on its parts
has increased allocations to these sectors in the Tenth Plan and
States should ensure adequate financing for human development.
He said good governance was important for realizing these goals.
Decentralisation, greater people’s participation through self-help
and user groups and civil society are required to strengthen the
democratic framework by brining about greater transparency and
accountability in the system.
Sh. Pant said the
needs was to have disaggregated information on human development
indicators at the district level for each State to identify the
gaps and initiate focused programmes to bridge these gaps. He
said Planning Commission and the UNDP together have been promoting,
supporting and financing the preparation of State Human Development
Reports (HDRs). Seven States have already completed their HDRs
and another nine including Assam, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Manipur,
Nagaland, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been finalized.
HDRs for Delhi, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh are under preparation.
