A prudent plan for A.P.

BY PRUNING THE annual plan of Andhra Pradesh from the budgeted Rs. 8,228 crores to Rs. 7,708 crores, the Planning Commission has attempted to convey the message that more needs to be done by the Chandrababu Naidu Government on the fiscal management front. This delayed exercise by the Commission will cause a lot of problems to the States, which have completed a half year in implementing their budgets. Since they must be facing problems raising the resources to meet commitments, many of the Governments must have expected the Planning Commission to find other means of providing additional funds to manage their budgets. By cutting down on the plan size, the panel is asking the States to be less ambitious and more pragmatic in setting targets. By trimming the Andhra Pradesh plan to the extent of Rs. 520 crores this year, the Commission has gone by its yardstick of `identifiable resources'. Though the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Mr. K. C. Pant, did point to the increasing dependence of the State on borrowings as a percentage of the plan, he has lavished praise on the Chief Minister, Mr. Naidu, for his Vision document and the focus on information technology (IT).

It is true that Mr. Naidu has set some very ambitious targets and goals for Andhra Pradesh in the Vision 2020 plan. But he must realise it needs a determined effort and substantial mobilisation of resources to achieve those objectives. Mere privatisation or corporatisaton of State sector units is not going to help. The Chief Minister has to inject not just austerity in Government, but a rational distribution of the depleting financial resources. The focus on irrigation and power, which he has sought to give in recent years, is certainly a step in the right direction. But power sector reforms and management have left a lot to be desired. The Opposition-led protests against the hefty increase in the power tariff earlier this year have still not died down, though the State Government has stood its ground. As Mr. Pant has noted, the State Electricity Board's losses have mounted to a whopping Rs. 3,565 crores this year. Apart from the subsidies, what is causing concern is that nearly one-third of the power generated is `lost' in transmission and distribution - a euphemism for `theft' of power. Unless the Government and APTRANSCO bring down this loss of revenue to a manageable level, the reforms will not yield the desired results.

There is no dearth of development schemes in the State, though complaints of regional imbalances still persist. The cycle of droughts and floods continues to plague Andhra Pradesh and the Chief Minister must now focus his attention on harnessing the water resources to put the surplus water to good use, instead of letting it flow into the Bay of Bengal. Farmers' management of irrigation systems has been introduced in the State and the Government must monitor them carefully to see if the farmers are really managing the resources well. This could be a model for other States to study and follow. On another front, Mr. Naidu must ensure that the gap between Hyderabad and its environs, now being called Cyberabad, and the rest of the State does not become so glaring and the priority given to IT does not take away from the industrial development of other centres. The Government must review the agriculture scene and deal with the problems facing both tobacco farmers and cotton growers. A judicious rotation of crops and a planned weaning away of farmers from tobacco are imperative in the short term itself. More needs to be done on the health front too, especially on infant mortality, though Andhra Pradesh is well on the way to achieving the `replacement level' of fertility by 2002. A balanced development plan must steadily enhance the per capita income and bridge the regional imbalances.

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