The Indian government on Thursday approved the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) document that aims to achieve an annual average economic growth rate of 8.2 percent, down from the nine percent envisaged earlier in the Approach Paper to the Plan in the context of the ongoing global problems.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the Union Cabinet discussed and approved the draft 12th Plan document. The document already been approved by the full Planning Commission headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on September 15.

The document will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the apex decision making body, for the final approval. The NDC, headed by the Prime Minister with all State Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers on board, is the final authority to approve the five-year policy document.

During the 11th Plan (2007-12), India has recorded an average economic growth rate of 7.9 percent, lower than the nine percent targeted for the Plan.

Besides other things, the 12th Plan seeks to achieve four percent growth in the agriculture sector during 2012-17. The growth target for manufacturing sector has been pegged at ten percent.

The total plan size has been estimated at Rs.47.7 lakh crore, 135 percent more than that of the 11th Plan.

As regards to poverty alleviation, the Planning Commission aims to bring down the poverty ratio by ten percent. At present, 30 percent of the population is below the poverty line.

RTTNews