NEW DELHI: The Union Human Resource Development Ministry has asked the Planning Commission to accommodate in the Eleventh Plan the implications of the United Progressive Alliance Government's commitment to introduce reservation for Other Backward Classes in educational institutions from next year without affecting the opportunities for non-Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes.

Responding to the draft approach paper for the Plan, which has been circulated to the Commission members, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has said the Government need to give a hard look at the growth strategy, which has exacerbated the inequities.

The impressive growth had gone hand-in-hand with a mounting agrarian distress and price rise. A vast number of people remained untouched by the mesmerising statistics, which the people had rejected decisively in the last elections.

As for the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) commitment, it would be important to foreground the pro-poor initiatives proposed in the Plan, especially the one to enhance the food security from the household to the national level.

"Despite the commitment, ... we have allowed further erosion of the public distribution system, which has caused the current level of distress," the Ministry has said. "It would be useful to project the kind of inflationary pressure that will be built up in the Plan, if we were to follow the policy approach suggested in the document."

There is a breath of fresh air in the suggestion that we need not be constrained by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. Indeed, this Act has put artificial curbs on the capacity of the economy to invest more in poverty alleviation programmes as well as on the much needed public investments in agriculture, which is the primary cause of the current agrarian distress, Mr. Singh has said.

Pointing out that the draft need to articulate the NCMP commitment in a faithful, bold and time-bound manner, the Ministry has said it must state time-bound targets and strategy for raising public expenditure on education to 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and expanding the mid-day meal programme beyond the primary stage.

"It also needs to make an unequivocal commitment to grant of adequate scholarships to SC/ST and other children from Below Poverty Line families, especially girls, right from the initial stages of education," the Ministry has said.

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