Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government’s focus will be on inclusive growth and achieve 8 per cent economic growth.
While conceding that the economy was indeed facing tough challenges especially from inflation which was a “consistent problem”, Singh said that he would bring the country back to average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 8 per cent in the 12th Plan. “While our aim is to achieve an average GDP growth of 8 per cent during the 12th Plan, the focus will continue to remain on inclusive growth,” Singh said.
Singh was intervening in the Presidential address debate in Parliament on Wednesday and said, “We have delivered an average growth rate of 7.9 per cent since taking office in 2009.”
Singh also added that GDP growth under the UPA tenure has been considerably higher than under the erstwhile NDA regime. He also said that agricultural growth under the UPA government had been 3.5 per cent compared to 2.9 per cent during NDA-rule. “Our policies led to a growth of 6.8 per cent per year in real agricultural wages in the 11th Plan compared with only 1.1 per cent in the previous decade,” he said.
Singh also said that the government will introduce measures for greater transparency and accountability as well as work to bring in more investment. While the Prime Minister accepted that economic growth had slowed down in 2012, as was the case in Europe and the US, he was determined to bring the country’s growth back on track.