Full Plan panel to meet on September 1

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will preside over a full Planning Commission meeting on September 1 for the mid-term appraisal of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2007-12). The meeting assumes significance at a time when almost half the country is hit by drought even as the manufacturing sector is yet to recover from the global meltdown.

The meeting is also expected to discuss issues relating to gas allocation and pricing as part of an integrated energy policy (IEP) review. The ongoing dispute between the Ambani brothers is over allocation and pricing of gas from the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) oil fields.

The Planning Commission had come up with an IEP and had suggested a number of recommendations last year. “There has been progress on some of them while some others have progressed a little. The meeting would just be a status assessment as energy is essential for our development. As a run-up to the mid-term appraisal, we will brief the members on the key issues in IEP,” said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Ahluwalia.

Ahluwalia also stated that the government would not exceed the projected fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent for the current financial year. “...there are many factors that determine the budget deficit, so whatever happens to one item can be offset by another item, ...and other factors will lead to government maintaining the fiscal target,” he said.

However, while replying to a query, he indicated there were chances of a possible increase in food subsidy, but said that would not affect fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal.