POLITICS-Tackling Insurgency

Wrong Focus WHAT sort of credence should we attach to the growth target agreed upon for the Eighth Plan at the just concluded meeting of the National Development Council? Going by the performance of the economy during the current year and the most optimistic forecast put out by finance minister Manmohan Singh in his statement to parliament, while placing before it the MOU signed with the IMF, an average rate of growth of 5.6 per cent per annum over the next five years, 1992-97 may well remain a dream target. Interestingly, there is no indication whatsoever about the employment generation to be aimed at. If any real dent has to be made in the country's poverty and poverty levels, this is possible only through efforts in the area of employment generation. It is admitted all round that employment generation in the recent past has been extremely tardy, despite higher than earlier rates of economic growth. It is also well known that employment has expanded most tardiJy in the private organised sector, the sector that is slated to enjoy the pride of place in the growth strategy which has now been adopted