Five-year plans followed by Congress govt in the past not suited for India: Tamil Nadu governor

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi courted yet another controversy on Thursday when he said the model of the 'five-year plan' by the earlier Congress regimes was not suited for a large country like India.
"We used to have five-year plans in which funds were allotted for education, health and roads. We kept on building schools, hospitals and roads, but the problems kept increasing. Our growth was segmental as we kept addressing the problems in segments. The model was not suitable for our country," said Ravi, addressing a gathering after inaugurating the Auto Components Machine Tools Engineering Expo (ACMEE) 2023-15th International Machine Tools Exhibition at the Chennai Trade Centre.
At the inauguration function, the governor said the five-year plans of the Congress-led dispensation in the past was responsible for the slow growth rate of the country.
“Countries were envious of our growth till 2007-08. When I visited China, they used to say that we are the leaders in information technology, but we know where we are today and where they are. With large natural and human potential, we remained at the margin of international affairs. Change has happened at the top level and this country has to lead the world," the governor said.
He said the world today is facing new problems which were unheard of 50 years ago. "When India rises, the entire world welcomes because the world is fed up with crises such as climate change which were not there 50 years ago. Today, we have taken the lead. More than 40% of the country's energy needs are met through green energy and we have set the target of meeting 50% of the energy needs through green energy by 2040," said the governor.