Cabinet to finalise Kalam's speech today

As the Union Cabinet meets tomorrow to finalise President A P J Abdul Kalam's address to Parliament, the most awaited part of the speech would be the one dealing with the Multi Sectoral Development Plan (MSDP) for minorities.

The plan is the follow-up to the Sachar committee report submitted to the government in the winter session of Parliament, elaborating on the socio-economic status of Muslims in India.

The minority affairs ministry's budget demands this year has swelled from Rs 2 crore to Rs 300 crore, and it seems that the ministry will be anchoring another big ticket idea of the government on minority welfare this time.

The 20-point programme for minorities already exists but the real follow-up to the Sachar committee's report is to be the MSDP. The clues on what this would entail would be revealed in the President's address.

Part of the programme would be dealing with a Rs 100 crore project to map districts where minority communities are not only numerically strong but also economically and socially backward.

Nearly 50 districts will be targeted under this programme, with minorities other than Muslims also being looked at.

The rest of the speech is expected to dwell on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's foreign policy successes including the Indo-US civil nuclear co-operation deal, the successful visits by the Chinese and Russian Presidents and attempts at peace between India and Pakistan.

A mention of rising inflation and government's efforts to check it are also going to be raised, as can be gauged by the fact that the PM himself spoke of it at his Economic Advisory Council (EAC) meeting.

A lion's share of the speech is also expected to dwell on three straight years of very high growth rates and the success with which Indian businessmen have concluded big business deals outside the country.

Two years ago, the big ticket idea elaborated upon in the Budget and the President's speech was Bharat Nirman for the rural countryside.

This year, it is mapping of minorities.