In his comments on the performance of the State, Mr. Ahluwalia appreciated the efforts aimed at restoring financial health. He said private sector needs to be encouraged in joining hand for development of both social and physical infrastructure. Mr. Ahluwalia said that the Commission is in the process of finalizing approach for the Twelfth Plan and would like the States to comments on the social sector initiatives of the Central Government so that corrective steps can be taken where needed.

The gross State Domestic Product of the State increased from Rs 14112 crore to Rs 28,632 crores during the period 1999-2000 to 2009-2010. The average GDP growth rate of Himachal Pradesh during first two years of the current plan is 8% while the All India GDP growth rate for the same period is 7.86%.

The per capita income of the State has increased by 55.454% during the period 1999-2000 to 2008-09 while the All India per capita income has increased by 60.53 % during the same period. The average increase in the per capita income of the State during the first two years of Eleventh Plan was 6.3% and the increase in All India per capita income was 6.27%.

The State is blessed with abundant water resources. It has total potential of about 20,000 MW, out of which less than 6500 MW has been exploited so far.

The percentage of girl s’ enrolment at primary level increased slightly to 47.49 during 2009-10 but continues to be less than the national average of 48.46. Steps need to be taken for the improvement of Child sex ratio in the State

In his comments on the development strategy of the State, Prof. Dhumal said the Plan objectives would include the provision of essential public services, increasing farm income, developing better infrastructure, nurturing human capital, protecting the environment and improving governance. The focus would remain on reduction of poverty, enhancing equity among various sections of the society and a balanced regional development.

He said that top priority in the allocation of funds would be given to ‘Social Service Sector’. The funds allocated for the Education & Health sectors will help in improving the human development indicators in the State. In the order of priority, 2nd priority has been given to ‘Transport and Communication Sector.

Prof. Dhumal said that the State Government has taken number of initiatives to improve revenue collection and for the current year collection is better than Finance Commission’s recommendations. The State government requested for declaring Bilaspur–Leh Railway line as project of National importance.