Economic milestones of UPA government
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is expected to recommend dissolution of the present Lok Sabha after the February session. The general election for the 15th Lok Sabha is due before May.
The UPA government claims it had taken action on "almost all 142 items" of significance in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), its agenda of governance. The CMP's chief focus was on employment, agriculture, health, education, women and children, national security, foreign policy, food, Panchayati Raj, social harmony, minorities, water resources, regional development, among others.
Its most notable achievement includes inflation control and maintaining a tight regulatory environment which prevented domestic institutions from falling prey to global financial woes.
Rising crude and global commodity prices saw inflation bordering around 12%. But a number of policy measures ensured that prices remain under control and the aam aadmi does not suffer.
Dr Shankar Acharya, Honorary Professor, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Member of Board of Governors, said a number of subsidies announced last year helped keep prices of food, fertiliser, and petroleum low. "The consequences of that in a normal year might have been rather unpleasant but this hasn’t been a normal year."
The CMP promised an increase in investment for agriculture, which has been in the throes of a crisis. The government promised that immediate steps would be taken to ease the burden of debt and high interest rates on farm loans. In last year's Budget, the government announced a Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver scheme.
The UPA's CMP included a National Employment Guarantee Act to provide at least 100 days of employment for at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban, poor, and middle-class household. The Act is now functional across India.
It also pledged to raise public spending in education to at least 6% of GDP with at least half this amount being spent on primary and secondary sectors. This was its stance on education. At last count, the UPA government's investment in education stood at 3.5% of GDP.
But despite all these achievements the government failed to deliver on a number of fronts. Primary being its failure to control the rising fiscal deficit. The overall deficit in the current fiscal is expected to surge to 7.5% of the gross domestic product, as against the projected 2.5% in 2008-09.
Year | GDP |
2004-05 | 7.5 |
2005-06 | 9.4 |
2006-07 | 9.6 |
2007-08 | 8.7 |
There were also a number of areas like health, education, rural employment and agriculture on which it promised but has under delivered.
A report filed a civil society review of CMP implementation (called the People's Verdict) alleged that the promised increase in budgetary allocations to health by 2-3% of GDP has not been met.
The report said spending on health by the Centre is stagnant from 2003-04 onwards. "The present UPA government promised to spend 3% of GDP on health but after four years, the total spending is hovering around 1% of GDP," the document claimed.
Referring to the CMP proposal to spend 6% of GDP on education with at least half the amount being earmarked for primary and secondary sectors, the report said the combined outlay for the education departments of the Centre and states remain at a "meagre 2.84% of GDP" in 2007-08.
Attachments : cmp.pdf
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From our archives
UPA’s Economic Face
Key economic portfolios & ministers who headed it
Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Minister of Home Affairs
Shri P. Chidambaram
Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Finance
Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Minister of Railways
Shri Lalu Prasad
Source:Moneycontrol.com
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