Mumbai:
Delivering the 22nd Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas Memorial Lecture
on June 24 in Mumbai, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, chairman, Planning Commission,
said that to usher in the second generation of the green revolution, technology
must be introduced in agriculture. This, he said, would usher in faster growth
to reach the 2002-07 tenth plan target between. He
was speaking on the theme ''Globalisation and India: Challenges and Opportunities''
organised by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. India,
he said, could attain eight per cent economic growth rate only if it doubles
its agricultural growth from two to four per cent. The first three years of
the tenth plan have witnessed 6.5 per cent economic growth, paving the way
for higher growth. To
do so three areas agriculture, The social sector and infrastructure
needed focus To
make reforms inclusive, agriculture-related areas like poultry and horticulture
should be developed for the overall growth of the sector, he said and added,
''The corporate sector, too, needs to be involved in agricultural sector,''
he said. Dr
Ahluwalia said globalisation was not responsible for the bottlenecks in the
agricultural sector. "Domestic policies need to be corrected for the
agricultural growth,'' he said. For
the development of the country thesocial structe, signified by quality education
and teaching English at an early age were essential. To make the benefits
of globalisation to larger sections of the population the overall development
of the social sector ws important. Infrastrucuture
power, roads, ports and airports need to be developed
for the growth of the manufacturing sector, he said while adding that the
growth of the manufacturing sector needs to be doubled. He
also reiterated public and private partnership for infrastructural growth.
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