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Manipur annual plan outlay finalised

By Sobhapati Samom

IMPHAL, June 9 � The annual plan for Manipur for the year 2012-13 was finalised at Rs 3,500 crore at a meeting held at Yojana Bhavan in New Delhi between Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Wednesday.

Ahluwalia commenting on the performance of the State, suggested that the infrastructure gap in the State needed to be bridged on priority. The State should encourage private participation in infrastructure development, he added.

Recent analysis revealed differing levels of growth rate of different sectors of the economy, during the period 2000-2009. Of the sectors considered, electricity, gas and water supply and public administration were found to have grown slowly. Fishery, manufacturing had grown faster.

Education and health indices threw up a mix of good and not so good. Literacy rate, standing at 70.50 per cent in 2001 had improved significantly to 79.85 per cent in 2011. Overall, male literacy rate had increased by about 6 per cent to 80.33 per cent in 2011 while female literacy had gone up by 12.64 per cent from 60.53 per cent during the period.

The Chief Minister commented that the main thrust of the State Government would be on reducing infrastructural deficit and expanding and strengthening capacity of key social sectors � health, education, women and child welfare, nutrition and food security. He emphasised enough investment for expansion of social infrastructure for covering the disadvantaged section, backward, remote and border areas.

He also informed that skill development programmes would be expanded to meet growing demand of industry and service sectors and power would be devolved to the hill areas and new policy initiatives will be taken to encourage investments in these areas.

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