PUDUCHERRY: Concerns have been raised over a drop in the Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of the per capita income (PCI), an indicator of the standard of life, in the UT this financial year.As per statistics released by the Department of Planning at the State Planning Board meet here, the PCI growth rate at current prices (which are subject to fluctuations), which stood at 11.85 per cent in 2010-11, has come down to 6.24 percent during the current year. Similarly, the PCI growth rate, at constant prices, has dropped to 2.5 per cent from the previous year’s (2010-11) figure of 6.02 per cent.This is despite a marginal growth in per capita income, which stood at `11,0874 crore in 2010-2011, to `11,7793 crore in 2011-12 (current prices) and from `88,479 crore to `90,738 crore during the same period (constant prices). As Leader of Opposition and former chief minister V Vaithilingam pointed out, “Growth in trade, agriculture, industry, business, job creation and income generation is not happening to the (ideal) level.” On a more positive note, however, the Gross State Domestic product (GSDP) has increased to 14.95 per cent in 2011-2012, up from the 13.97 in 2010-2011 and the 12.87 per cent in 2009-2010. The main contributor to this was the tertiary sector (manufacturing), while the growth rates of the primary sector (agriculture-based) hovered around four to five per cent and the secondary sector (production), around eight to nine percent. Similarly, the revenue from internal resources has also been showing an upward trend. The revenue generated, which stood at `829.24 crore in 2007-08, went up to `903.48 crore in 2008-2009, `1176.41 crore in 2009-2010 and `1,383.08 crore in 2010-2011. By the end of the current financial year, it is expected to touch `1,435 crore. However, the plan fund utilisation has been hovering around 60 per cent, which is another cause of concern. This has been attributed to the lack of finances. Assistance from the Centre has also increased from `127.49 crore earlier to `180.42 crore (excluding Tsunami relief). The implementation of schemes suffers as a good portion of the funds marked under the Annual Plan is used for paying up the salary of posts listed under the Plan, as the UT government has to shoulder the entire salary burden.For better financial management, a ‘zero budgeting’ technique has been used, as a result of which the number of schemes for the Annual Plan (2012-2013) has been brought down to 227 from the earlier 341. This has been done by merging certain schemes during the current year as per the draft budget proposals.According to Vaithilingam, the UT government should persuade the Centre to create the posts for existing society colleges (medical, engineering and others), non-profit service corporations (through which the implementation of government schemes is routed) and local bodies under the ‘Non-Plan’ segment. This, he pointed out, will pave the way for the Centre to finance a percentage of the salary through grants.“As per rule, after a duration of five years in existence, these posts could be created under the non-plan category,” he added.
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