The Planning Commission has favoured using the $122 billion forex reserves fund for financing infrastructure building, especially in rural areas by suggesting a constitutional amendment to help usage of funds currently in the custody of RBI.The Commission has reasoned that while there is a separate fund of Rs 50,000 crore set up by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the Budget to finance infrastructure projects, these are good for bankable projects like airports, ports and telecom. But as far as the rural sector is concerned, a special dispensation is required.At the Economic Editor’s Conference here on Thursday, the Planning Commission said the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the 10th Plan would focus on removing bottlenecks to attract significant private and public investment for achieving a 7-8 per cent growth rate.Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, ‘‘growth in agricultural sector decelerated after mid-1990s. MTA will look into ways and means to give a major push to the sector’’.He said agricultural growth decelerated to less than 2 per cent after 1996-97 from about 3.3 per cent during 1980 to 1996. “This reflects the failure of our strategy”.Ahluwalia said the Centre would look into the possibility of stepping up investments in major irrigation projects. The country’s social indicators were still worse than countries in South East Asia. Describing the country’s poor infrastructure as the biggest problem in the way to rapid growth, he said India would need ‘‘much more than $150 billion investment’’ to become globally competitive. ‘‘The Centre and the states are not in good fiscal position and we need improvement in private and foreign investments,’’ he said, adding the government should identify areas where public sector involvement can be minimised. World Bank lines up $9bn loan in 3 yrs
