Planning Commission allocated 4100 Crore Rupees for Himachal Pradesh Plan 2013-14

The annual plan of 4100 crore rupees for the year 2013-14 for the state of Himachal Pradesh was finalized by the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of India Montek Singh Ahluwalia and the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh on 10 April 2013.

The states performance in the 11th Plan was commendable in almost all sectors including the social sector. Human development indicators were in-line with the priorities of the center. In the 11th plan period Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate of Himachal Pradesh during 11th Plan was 8.1% which is almost equal to national average of 8%.

Himachal Pradesh has a huge potential of developing horticulture because of its proximity to the big markets like Chandigarh and Delhi.

Performance of state in 11th Plan Period
• Industrial and Services Sectors: performance of state was much better and higher than the national average
• Agriculture sector: The state will have to make a comprehensive effort in agriculture so that it can achieve a target of 3 percent growth set for 12th five year plan period
• Human Development Index (HDI): The HDI of Himachal Pradesh is 0.652 and it is better than the national average of 0.467; the state was placed at third position in the list of 22 states
• Health and educational: states performance in the two sectors with major indicators like birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, anaemia, under nutrition (0-3 years), literacy rate was measured better than the national average
• Child-Sex Ratio (0-6 years in age): The state has reported an increase in the ratio i.e. in 2001 the state recorded 896 per 1000; whereas in 2011 it recorded the ratio to be 906 per thousand

Further Plans of the state
• The State Government has prepared a long term vision for the development of tourism and has targeted to increase contribution of Tourism Sector in the GSDP from the current level of 10% to 15% by the year 2020 by developing tourist friendly infrastructure.
• In the 12th Five Year Plan period the state has given first priority to social service sector with an outlay of 1371.40 crore rupees (33.45%). The funds allocated for the Education & Health sectors will help in improving the human development indicators in the State. The second priority has been given to transport and communication sector with an outlay of 865.14 crore rupees (21.10%) to link feasible villages with motorable roads and maintenance of the existing infrastructure.