NEW DELHI-Policy-Frame for Seventh Plan

NEW DELHI Policy-Frame for Seventh Plan B M WHIL E the planners in Yojana Bhavan are plodding along, putting in extra hours of work to prepare the final draft of the Seventh Plan, major economic policy innovations and initiatives art being taken by the government under the banner of liberalisation and modernisation which mock at all assumptions and priorities of the Plan. Mention must be made in this context of the new textile policy which has been at last announced and the adjustments which have been made in licensing policy for the pharmaceutical industry in advance of the promised new drug policy. There is also the report of black economy by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy which has been released by the Union Finance Minister for the seemingly laudable objective of encouraging a public debate on it. However, it was clear from the comments of the Finance Minister at the time of releasing the report that the findings of the report and the measures proposed in it for whitewashing the black economy are very much in accord with the philosophy of liberalisation of the economy which has gained ascendancy in the government. The Minister made a point of emphasising that the government had already taken advance action in the light of the recommendations of the report for dealing with the problem of black money and the parallel economy, such as relexation of economic controls and lowering of tax rates. The Union Budget for 1985-86 and the export-import policy for the current year are replete with measures on these lines.