NEW DELHI, 10 December 2006 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday called for empowering Muslims to make them share in the fruits of development, saying Muslims “must have the first claim on resources” and the uplift of minorities, backwards, women and children would be accorded the top priority in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12).
“We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,” the prime minister said while addressing the 52nd meeting of the National Development Council (NDC), the interface body on policy comprising the central and state governments. The prime minister’s comments came in the backdrop of an official report that has revealed that Muslims were at a disadvantage in social, economic and educational spheres.
“The component plans for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes will need to be revitalized,” he added outlining priorities for the 11th Plan. “The 11th Plan must give top priority to redressing the weaknesses in the agriculture sector. We cannot expect inclusive growth if we do not revitalize agriculture,” the prime minister said.
“The GDP growth target proposed in the approach paper involves accelerating growth from 8 percent to 10 percent in the final year of the plan, yielding an average rate of growth of 9 percent in the 11th Plan period as a whole,” he added.
