The Hindu : Plan panel unveils India Vision-2020

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 24, 2003

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Plan panel unveils India Vision-2020

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Jan. 23. The Planning Commission today unveiled a document, India Vision-2020, raising hopes of achieving 100 per cent literacy, eradicating unemployment and poverty and quadrupling the per capita income, besides attaining a GDP growth of 9 per cent per annum by 2020. The Commission, however, said it was difficult to make accurate predictions.

Making public the document — a futuristic report on anticipated economic advancement — pieced together by a committee headed by S. P. Gupta, Member, Planning Commission, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K. C. Pant, said "I am aware of the uncertainties of democracy. No one can make accurate predictions in the political sphere and state accurately where the country will be after 20 years. Even five years is a long time, but that should not inhibit us from thinking ahead.''

The report envisions that in 2020, India's 1.35 billion people will be "better fed, dressed and housed, healthier, more educated and longer living than any generation in the country's long history.''

Illiteracy and major contagious diseases would have disappeared. School enrolment in the age group of 6 to 14 will be almost 100 per cent.

While the report highlights education and employment as thrust areas, Mr. Pant said "the experts feel that major environment issues will still remain a serious concern. Urban air pollution will probably be brought under control by strict enforcement of motor vehicle emission standards and widespread use of ethanol-blended motor fuels, but water shortages in major metropolitan areas will continue despite a national programme to popularise water harvesting in both rural and urban areas.''

Answering a question on the importance of governance in attaining the target, Mr. Pant said that governance and progress were interlinked and this was clearly visible from the growth attained by those States with good governance.

The report projects employment generation of 200 million with a growth rate of more than 2 per cent per annum. However, employment in agriculture would decline from 56 to 40 per cent.

India will be surplus in food in most categories but it will not ensure the absence of malnutrition. Major jobs will come from unorganised labour sector, mostly small and medium industries, transport, agriculture, agro-forestry, fisheries, tourism, IT, education and health, the report says adding that employment and the right for a job should be made a constitutional right.

The urban population will rise from 25.5 per cent to 40 per cent and India will be much more integrated with the global economy. It will be a major player in terms of trade, technology and investment, according to the projections in the report.

Mr. Gupta said that in view of India's many open and hidden potentials, India Vision-2020 was not a dream but an attainable proposition provided certain policies were pursued and there was determination to achieve the goal.

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