Thaindian News

Chennai, Oct 11 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday said service sector-led economic growth was not sustainable and there was a need to make the primary and manufacturing sectors the main growth drivers.

Addressing the first meeting of the State Planning Commission here, Jayalalithaa said: “The economic growth in the state is being propelled by the service sector only. Service sector-led growth will not be sustainable in the long run. There is, therefore, a need to make the primary and manufacturing sectors the main drivers for achieving higher growth.”

She said critical bottlenecks in infrastructure development should also be addressed to sustain higher growth in the service sector so as to achieve an overall growth of above 10 percent in the coming years.

“Economic growth also needs to be more inclusive and reduce urban-rural disparity,” she said.

According to her, the first four years of the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) registered an overall negative growth of 0.51 percent in the primary sector.

Calling for greater focus on reviving the primary sector, she said the government “has set for itself an ambitious target of 115 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain production during 2011-2012 as against last year’s production of 85.35 lakh metric tonnes. Agricultural production can be improved by addressing the productivity gap and through value addition.”

Jayalalithaa said the government’s emphasis is on a farm-based and habitation-based approach to planning, scheme development and implementation.