New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on October 5 declared that hard decisions including privatisation of public sector undertakings (PSUs) will be taken as part of tough reform measures to achieve 8 per cent annual growth during the Tenth Plan.

"Difficult decisions on labour, financial, tax reforms and agriculture marketing will have to be taken to move on to a high 8 per cent growth in the Tenth Plan for which there was consensus at the National Development Council," Vajpayee said in his opening remarks at the full Planning Commission meeting to approve the Tenth Plan document.

Allaying apprehensions on foreign direct investment (FDI), Vajpayee said, "Let there be no worry in any quarters that we would follow such an FDI policy as would weaken the Indian industry or hurt national interest."

"This will never happen," he said adding, however, greater inflow of FDI was needed to supplement domestic resources where it would strengthen economy and enhance competitiveness.

The Prime Minister said that India could not afford to set a lower growth target "if we want to move towards our cherished dream of building an India free of poverty, illiteracy and homelessness, free of regional, social and gender disparities".

Vajpayee said that an eight per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth was also essential in view of the fears in certain quarters that the rate of unemployment could rise further going by the present rate of growth of the labour force.

"The issue before us is not whether we can achieve a significantly higher growth rate, rather, it is whether can we afford not to," he said.

He said that the draft Tenth Plan addresses the concerns on the content and direction of India's development.

Accordingly, it lays much emphasis on speeding up the development of agriculture, agro-industries, small-scale and cottage industries and the whole array of activities in the informal sector, Vajpayee said.

PTI