By Our Reporter
Shillong: Of the many suggestions that emerged out of Friday’s pre-budget exercise, the most thought-provoking one came from former health minister in the MPA Government, Dr Adviser Pariong who spoke on the need to promote strict family planning in Meghalaya.
Pariong, a medical doctor himself pointed to the high growth rate in Meghalaya, (the highest decadal growth rate in the country) and said that population will cancel out all the plans and programmes of the government. According to Pariong population growth is a serious problem for Meghalaya as the resources are not commensurate to the demand.
He suggested that Government adequate allocate resources for mass awareness creation by NGOs about the importance of family planning. Pariong who had recently visited some South East Asian countries as part of the Assembly study tour, said Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand had made remarkable strides by controlling population growth.
GSDP declines: The contributions of the agriculture and allied sectors to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has seen a gradual decline in the past many years.
As per the official documents which were provided during the pre-budget exercise, there was a clear indication that there has been drastic decline in contributions of the agriculture and allied sector to the GSDP. The contribution of this very important sector which has been the backbone of the State’s economy has drastically gone down in the past seven years. As per the official figures, the contribution of this sector in the past five years are 23.25 percent (2004-2005), 22.60 percent (2005-2006), 21.26 percent (2006-2007), 20.15 percent (2007-2008), 18.58 percent (2008-2009), 17.80 percent (20009-2010) and 17.01 (2010-2011). Meanwhile, the contribution of the industrials sector has shown an upward trend from 26.14 percent to 31.45 percent from 2004-2005 to 2010-2011. It has been also stated that the contribution of the services sector to the GSDP has increased from 50.61 percent to 51.57 percent (Advance Estimates). However, the approach paper to the 12th Plan envisages a national growth of 9.1 percent per annum which is to be contributed by 4.0 percent growth in agriculture, 9.6 percent in industry and 10 percent in the service sector.