By IANS
New Delhi : Following are the highlights of the 'Report to the People' by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday marking the third year of the United Progressive Alliance in office.
– The country recorded for the fifth year in succession, economic growth rate of over 8.5 percent. The recent acceleration of growth to 9 percent has been made possible by an unprecedented increase in the rate of investment, which is at an all-time high of around 35 percent of national income. Higher rates of investment and growth have helped generate employment and reduce poverty.
– The seven key components of "strategy of inclusive growth" have been:
(a) stepped up investment in rural areas, in rural infrastructure and agriculture
(b) increased credit availability to farmers and remunerative prices for their crops
(c) increased rural employment, providing a unique social safety net in the shape of the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme
(d) increased public spending on education and health care, including strengthening the mid-day meal programme and offering scholarships to the needy
(e) investment in urban renewal, improving the quality of life for the urban poor
(f) empowering socially, economically and educationally – the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities, women and children
(g) ensuring that, through public investment, the growth process spreads to backward regions and districts
– A New 15-Point Programme has been introduced for the welfare of minorities, the results of which would flow in years to come.
– In the next two years, government to focus on ensuring that important flagship programmes are properly implemented. It will ensure that the enormous resources that are being invested fetch the desired results.
– The government will replicate the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the Secondary Education Sector and unroll a major programme for universalising secondary education. This, along with the Vocational Education Mission and plans for a rapid expansion of the university system, will enable every Indian get gainful employment.
– Engage all chief ministers in a dialogue to move to a power surplus position by 2012.
– Credible steps taken to improve the public health system and will provide a social safety net for workers in the unorganised sector.
– Never before has the external, political and economic environment been more benign and supportive of developmental aspirations.