The 12th Plan is slated to be implemented in the period 2012-17 and has projected a target of 9% annual GDP growth rate.

The NDC which consists of chief ministers of states and senior minister of the Union Cabinet is slated to focus on various issues including rationing of water, the Rs 32 per day expenditure as poverty line, price rise and corruption in public life.

'The water issue is something which we are highlighting in the NDC meet tomorrow,' said the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

He said : “water is a huge problem. It is a commodity that has to be rationed. I do not think that pricing will provide all the solution to the water issue. But then how do you ensure that a scarce resource is properly harnessed and is properly distributed.'

According to Ahluwalia one can have system under which water could be free only up to a certain quantity of litres but above that it can be charge at a higher rate which would covers the subsidy component.

Besides full time members of NDC, the Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, Home Minister, P Chidambaram, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister of State for Planning, Ashwani Kumar will also participate in the NDC meeting.

Meanwhile the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and sought the Centre’s help in improving the state’s poor financial health.

“I had told the Prime Minister last time also and today I reminded him again on West Bengal’s poor financial health,” she said.

She said West Bengal should not be compared with other states as “no development could take place in the state because of the misrule” of the last 35 years”.

The West Bengal Chief Minister had earlier sought a special financial package of Rs 1,900 crores from the Centre soon after coming to power in the state. She had also sought the Centre’s immediate intervention for repair of National Highway 31 and National Highway 34 which she said are in very bad condition.

She sought a moratorium for at least three years on repayment of loan by the state, keeping in view its financial condition.

She alleged acute shortage of manpower, especially in the IAS and IPS cadre in the state administration. There are a large number of vacant posts at senior positions, which is hampering administration.

The NDC will also take stock of the economy in the backdrop of sluggish growth and persistent high inflation, which is hovering around the double-digit mark.

The country is estimated to register an average growth rate of 8.2 per cent in the current Plan period 2007-12.