Indeed, as far as PPPs go, the absence of a Plan B in the corridors of power is quite remarkable.

It is so evident that the PPP model for delivering infrastructure failed to deliver the expected results in the 11th Plan period, yet the 12th Plan that has just been approved continues to rely on this model, and even wants to extend it to sectors like health where it is even less likely to succeed.

This in turn means that the provision of basic physical and social infrastructure - without which sustained growth cannot occur, much less be equitable - will continue to be a major lacuna.

Employment generation urgently requires a major policy focus, yet the government is still in effective denial about this.

It persists in believing that good job creation will be an outcome of GDP growth and does not require specifically directed actions, despite the evidence of jobless growth of the past decade.

Indeed, if this focus is not taken up systematically and actively in the near future, the much-vaunted "demographic dividend" is more likely to become a demographic disaster, as growing numbers of young people, increasing numbers of whom have also gone through private tertiary education and have new aspirations, are unable to find commensurate employment.