Give fiscal space for health: Sachs

NEW DELHI: India needs to make fiscal space in its budget to provide for more investments in basic infrastructure, education and health to tackle poverty, disease and hunger and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, noted economist Jeffrey Sachs said today.

"I am very happy with programmes like the National Rural Health schemes and Rural Electrification being undertaken in India.

These are steps that would improve the standard of living for the people. Yet fiscal space in the budget for other programmes is important for India to be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015," Sachs, Director Union Millennium Project and special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Anan on the Millennium Development Goals, said.

He was speaking at the CII National Conference and Annual session on 'Sustaining Competitiveness: Fostering Development.'.

Sachs said the challenge facing the world today was to combine economic growth and development with environmental sustainability.

The major ecosystems in the world- marine, terrestrial and atmospheric- are under immense stress and the countries should look at other sources of energy to be able to protect the environment from destruction, he said.

He also lauded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's target of achieving a double digit GDP growth.

"Such optimism that I see here is remarkable. The position of the Indian industry would have pivotal consequences for the entire world. What happens in India would also have a bearing on the international scene," he said.