SOUTH-Telengana Again

has been substantially less than was considered necessary in the Plan and yet it has hardly hurt the economy or the developmental effort. Will the large quantum of aid assumed in the Plan then be really necessary (even if it were available, which appears problematic)? Officials, specially of the Finance Mi nistry, and the planners appear to be under the spell of cliches. The trade gap, it is true, has narrowed in the last two years, mainly because of decline in imports (in spite of import liberalisa tion). But it is taken as axiomatic that this decline in imports has been due to the sluggishness of the economy and the stagnation in new investment. Once the investment climate improves and there is a spurt in industrial activity, it is argued, imports will shoot up and the trade and balance of payments gap will widen again. This is the main argu ment put forward by Finance Ministry officials who persist with efforts to get all the aid they can without being too finicky about its terms.