Reforms paying off, says Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 12. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today categorically asserted that there would be no going back on economic reforms as India should effectively respond to changes in the global economic environment to defend its interests.

Participating in the golden jubilee international seminar organised by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) here today, Mr. Vajpayee said the recent NSSO findings that the poverty ratio had declined by 10 percentage points (from 36 per cent in 1993-94 to 26.1 per cent in 1999-2000) had proved that the economic reforms initiated in the Nineties were beginning to achieve the desired results of poverty alleviation.

The Prime Minister said: ``I am not saying this because our Government wants to take credit for this achievement. After all, our Government has been in office only for the past three years. The process of economic reforms was initiated by a Congress Government. It was later carried forward by the two United Front Governments. In different ways, State Governments ruled by various political parties are also pursuing economic reforms of their own. Thus, there is a broad consensus on the need for reforms for achieving faster and more balanced growth.''

Since the NSSO data had shown that ``our combined efforts'' at reforming the economy had resulted in a significant reduction in poverty levels, there was no need to question the basic direction of the reforms process.

While some fine-tuning of the policies and programmes based on the experience of the past decade could be undertaken, ``there cannot be any change in the direction that India has adopted for itself. The need of the hour is to further strengthen the national consensus for reforms so that we can employ the full energy of the Central Government, the State Governments and all sections of our people for building a strong and prosperous India,'' the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Vajpayee drew attention to NSSO survey on employment, which had ``corroborated the essential soundness of our economic reforms.'' The survey revealed that unemployment rates among the educated in rural and urban areas had come down since 1993-94 and the reduction in the unemployment rate was more pronounced amongst women.

The Prime Minister also complimented the NSSO for conducting for the first time a survey of the entire informal sector. This survey showed that informal non-agricultural enterprises provided employment to about 94 million people, which was much more than the employment potential in the organised sector. ``Most of these enterprises are located in rural and semi-urban areas.

They have the potential to employ far many more and thus reduce pressure on agriculture, the Prime Minister said.

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