At WEF: India says Rural Infrastructure and Rural Employment Critical For projected 8% Growth

At the on-going World Economic Forum at Davos (Switzerland), India's Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr. Montek Ahluwalia, made a big pitch for rural infrastructure and rural employment, which he said were crucial to achieve the projected growth of 8 per cent -- he also said that it was important to review policy issues that hold development in rural areas? Wow...looks like he is beginning to shake up the Planning Commission and Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development. Will he succeed? Can he get the state governments on board?? This is what this blog has been harping upon -- see earlier postings.

Finance Minister, Mr. Chidambaram, who was also at WEF wanted to raise resources for capital investment by increasing domestic savings, opening doors wider to foreign direct investment, and making India a major manufacturing hub. He is reported to have said that India and China were not competing with each other (what?), that both countries were following different models for growth and development (really?), and there was enough capital in the world for the two countries to attract (Is it ?). Mr. Chidambaram, if this is so, why not international capital flowing to India as much as it does to China? And what about China's phenomical growth in exports relative to India's.

Let us watch how Mr. Chidambaram's forthcoming budget proposals for the fiscal year 2006-07 respond to these challenges?