By IANS,
New Delhi : India will return to a high growth path of over 9 percent by 2011-12 even as high prices remain a cause for worry for which all possible steps are being taken to tame inflation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday.
“I will be the last one to deny that the behaviour of food prices in the last one year is something which does not worry us,” the prime minister told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament.
“The house has my assurance that if any practical method can further bring relief to our people, our government will always be sensitive to the concerns of the members,” he said during his reply to a debate on the motion of thanks to president’s address.
“To put matters in perspective, it is important to recognize that in 2009 we have had one of the most severe droughts in recent history — the worst since 1972,” said the prime minister.
“As a result, production of foodgrain, pulses and oilseeds has been adversely affected. Production of sugarcane has also gone down. This was preceded by the economic slowdown, to respond to which the government had to stimulate demand.”
The remarks infuriated some of the opposition lawmakers who started shouting and briefly made the address inaudible. This prompted Speaker Meira Kumar to make pleas for peace after a brief commotion.
Resuming his address, the prime minister said while the federal government has taken several steps such as release of additional grain, oil, pulses and sugar, states must also invoke their Essential Commodities Acts to take action against hoarders.
“We have been able to procure 23 million tonnes of rice this year, which is not very different from what we procured last year. There should be no panic on the food situation front considering the comfortable level of food stocks available with the central government.”
According to the prime minister, the Indian economy grew at 6.7 percent last fiscal and will end this fiscal at around 7.5 percent despite the twin impact of global financial crisis since in December 2008 and the subsequently the failure of monsoon in 2009.
“In the next fiscal year, I am confident of achieving a growth rate of 8 percent or more and the year thereafter, we will be able to return the economy over 9 percent growth.”
He said if the government manages the economy well, creates the necessary social and physical infrastructure, improves governance and reduces the scope for corruption, there would be no barrier to double-digit growth.
“This is the vision that our government is working to realize.”