Foreign Exchange Reserves- Curious Approach

what to do with our foreign exchange reserves is being approached within the government is most curious considering (a) that we are supposed to have over two decades of economic planning behind us and have just given final shape to the fifth in the series of five-year Plans; (b) that for almost all of this period lack of foreign exchange has been accepted as one of the major constraints on higher investment and faster growth; and (c) that it has been one of our explicitly stated objectives to reduce, and do away with, dependence on foreign aid.