The Annual Plan for the year 2013-14 for the state of Madhya Pradesh was finalised here on 22nd May 2013 at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The plan size has been agreed at Rs. 35,500crore.
In his comments on the performance of the State, Mr Ahluwalia said the State has done fairly well and expenditure realization is quite satisfactory. State was particularly complemented for promoting public private partnership in the development of both physical and social infrastructure. It was noticed that more than 50 projects have been taken up in PPP mode. He said the average GDP growth rate of Madhya Pradesh during Eleventh Five Year Plan has improved to 9.4 per cent which is an encouraging and positive trend. The States™ sectoral growth rate in Agriculture (6.9 per cent), Industry (9.6 per cent) and service sector (10.6 per cent) has been higher than the target for Eleventh Five Year Plan and All India average figure.
Mr Ahluwalia said that the Commission aims at having mid-term appraisal of 12th plan in the middle of next year and requested State™s to send a report on their experience on new initiatives taken in the plan for the consideration of the Commission. He said Central Government is strongly pushing PPP in certain areas where as the States have to move forward in utilizing PPP mode in accelerating development process.
Attention was drawn to strong potential available in both culture and tourism sectors, the State was advised to focus more on development of projects in these sectors . It was pointed out that the State continues to lag behind All India average in most of the Socio-Economic indicators. There is a widening gap between per capita income of State (Rs. 27850) and the Country (Rs. 43624). The State has to take continuous and a concerted effort to improve it™s the development indicators. The Twelfth Five Year Plan, which aims for faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth, will require continued work in several areas of development and a change in strategy in some others.
It was also pointed out that concerted efforts are needed to improve the literacy rate and eliminate gender and social gap in school enrolment by the end of Twelfth Five Year Plan by ensuring that educational opportunities are available to all segments of the society. According to Census, 2011 data, the gender gap in literacy in Madhya Pradesh is high at 20.51 per cent. The enrolment in primary schools has declined from 109.28 lakh in 2009 to 107.12 lakh in 2010, as per DISE 2010-11.
In order to create a pool of skilled personnel in appropriate numbers with adequate skill in line with the employment requirements across the entire country, the government launched the Skill Development Mission during the 11th Five Year Plan. One of the monitorable targets of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) is generation of 50 million new work opportunities in the non-farm sector and skill certification of equivalent number during the 12th Plan. The State advised to indicate the potential non-farm activities wherein job opportunities can be created over the next five year and also indicate skill shortage in these sectors.
Child malnutrition and anaemia among women are other areas of concern which need more attention. Twelfth Five Year Plan aims to reduce the under-nutrition among children aged 0-3 years and anaemia among women to half of the NFHS-3 level. In order to address the problem of maternal and child malnutrition, a multi-sectoral programme is to be implemented in selected 200 high-burden districts in the country, out of these 30 districts of Madhya Pradesh have been included under the programme. Therefore, there is a need for prioritizing the on-going projects and funding them to complete at the earliest.
The Chief Minister sought Planning Commission support in getting adequate allocation of coal blocks and coal-linkages, forest clearance for power projects, continuing the present funding pattern of Central Share in SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA), increasing Central Assistance of Viability Gap Fund for infrastructure projects.
He said the State aims at becoming energy surplus by 2014 and would provide 24×7 power supply to non-agricultural consumers and 10 hours quality power for agriculture. He said to meet energy demands the State would give priority to focused thrust on solar, wind, small hydro and biomass power projects. The largest solar project in the country will be inaugurated in August this year and Five Dedicated Solar Parks are being developed on PPP mode.
He said to encourage investment promotion Industrial Promotion Policy 2012 has been put in plan which provides extensive fiscal and other incentives. Regulatory and procedural simplifications have been effected across the board. Four new Industrial Corridors are being developed. Industrial township act is being formulated and 20,000 hectares of land bank have been established.
Mr. Chouhan said over 9000 km Roads (26,000 cr) and 35 rail over bridges have been undertaken through PPP mode. The up-gradation of 13 industrial Estates and creation of 27 Greenfield industrial estates at a cost of Rs. 3550 cr has been taken up. He said new scheme for drinking water, infrastructure sanitation, urban reforms, conservation of water bodies and conservation of heritage building has been launched with an outlay of Rs. 2367.41 Cr in the 12th Plan.
