Finally, the way in which the country coped with unprecedented disas ters like the Tsunami and then the earthquake in Kashmir, and the way in which the res t of the country reached out to the affected a reas h a s s t r eng thened the bonds of un i ty and Introduction 13 demonstrated the confidence and dynamism of the country in facing natural calamities. [...] The slow growth in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors is also a reason for the slow growth of employment in the country, particularly at the lower end of the labour market for unskilled and semi-skilled labour. [...] The 1991 crisis was mainly due to the build up of public spending- led growth fuelled by high and persisting fiscal deficits in the 32 Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy 2005-2006 second half of the 1990s, though the trigger for the crisis was the sharp increase oil prices and consequently, the import bill following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. [...] While it is admitted in the Mid-term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan (India, 2005), tha t achieving the targeted growth of 8.1 per cent is well beyond the realm of feasibility, even achieving the 7-8 per cent target for the remaining two years of the Tenth Plan seems to be ambitious unless the pace of reforms in critical areas is accelerated. [...] The critical dependence of the coalition government on the left par t ies implies t h a t many of the important reform initiatives such as on disinvestment and privatisation, labour reforms, reforms to open the economy in foreign direct investment (FDD in many of the sectors of the economy are all on hold.
- Pages
- 210
- Published in
- India
