Tenth Plan

The Plan (2002–07) commenced with the objectives of greater participation of the NDC in their formulation. Some highly important steps were taken during the plan, which undoubtedly points out a change in the planning

policy mindset of the government, major ones being:84

(i) Doubling per capita income in 10 years;

(ii) Accepting that the higher growth rates are not the only objective—it should be translated into improving the quality of life of the people;

(iii) For the first time the Plan went to set the ‘monitorable tragets’ for eleven select indicators of development for the Centre as well as for the states;

(iv) ‘Governance’ was considered a factor of development;

(v) States’ role in planning to be increased with the greater involvement of the PRIs;

(vi) Policy and institutional reforms in each sector, i.e., reforms in the PSUs, legal reforms, administrative reforms, labour reforms, etc;

(vii) Agriculture sector declared as the prime moving force (PMF) of the economy;

(viii) Increased emphasis on the social sector (i.e., education, health, etc.);

(ix) Relevance between the processes of economic reforms and planning emphasised; etc.

The Mid-term Appraisal of the Plan was approved by the NDC in June 2005. The assessment gives a mixed picture regarding its performance. As per the appraisal, the country performed well in many areas and these gains needed to be consolidated, but there were some important weaknesses also, which, if not corrected, can undermine even the current performance level.85