A Parliamentary panel has pulled up the Planning Commission for not paying "desired level of attention" to allocating funds during the current plan period for the development of rural areas where an "overwhelming majority" of the country's population lives.
The Standing Committee on Rural Development also asked the Planning Commission to find ways and means to make available higher allocations for rural development in the 12th plan, "prioritising" creation of basic amenities for the 'aam admi' like shelter, drinking water, sanitation, employment and infrastructure including roads.
"The Planning Commission must recognise that accelerated growth has not led to inclusive growth; that the overwhelming majority of our population is nowhere near and many have even fallen off, the high trajectory of GDP growth, that widening disparities are a danger to both democracy and development," said the committee chaired by Sumitra Mahajan.
"It is in the area of rural development inclusive growth is most required, and that for inclusive growth, participative devlopment through Panchayati Raj institutions as mandated by Part IX of the Constitution, read with Article 243 ZD and Eleventh Schedule is indispensable," said the Committee's twentieth report on Demands For Grants tabled in the Lok Sabha today.
It said the Committee's examination has revealed that the most important area of rural development of the Indian economy has not received the desired level of attention for the allocation of funds from the Planning Commission during the 11th Plan Period (2007-2012).
"For instance, as against the proposal of about Rs 4.07 lakh crore, the Ministry of Rural Development received only Rs 2.96 lakh crore i.e. about 75% of the amount sought," the report said.
