PM urges for objectivity in plan

KATHMANDU, JULY 07:

The government has promised to endorse suggestions made by stakeholders of National Development Council (NDC) in final draft of 13th periodic plan. Suggestions from all walks of lives will be incorporated in forthcoming periodic plan, said chair of Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi during his closing remarks of the NDC meeting.

“Suggestions will be endorsed in 13th Three-Year Plan (2013-16) according to their objectivity,” he said, adding only precise and achievable suggestions will be included. According to him, plan has set an ambitious target but it can be achieved through good governance, committed government and greater public participation.

The plan has a target to put the country in the map of developed countries from Least Developed Country (LDC) in the next 10 years. According to the National Planning Commission (NPC), the goal can be attained if the country can achieve 4.5 per cent growth in agriculture and 6.7 per cent growth in non-agriculture sector over the next three years.

A country falls in the LDC category if it has less than $905 three-year average Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and a country can graduate if GNI exceeds $1,190 — lowest indicators of socioeconomic indicators —according to the Committee for Development Policy of the UN Economic and Social Council that reviews the LDC criteria every three years.

At present, the country’s GNI stands at $721 — about $365 less than what is required to graduate. Nepal has also been improving in some of the human development indicators under the Millennium Development Goals in recent years.

The goal is not difficult to achieve but political instability should end as soon as possible. “The Constituent Assembly election and other political incidents will decide the fate of the plan,” said spokesperson of the commission Purushottam Ghimire. Once elections have been conducted and we have a committed government, we can achieve the target, he added.

NPC has planned to submit a new periodic plan to the Cabinet within a week and also release it for the public. Technically, NPC has to make the plan available for the public before the new budget is announced.

Source: THT