How Inclusive is the Eleventh Five Year Plan? - People's Mid Term Appraisal - Voices of the People

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How Inclusive is the Eleventh Five Year Plan? - People's Mid Term Appraisal - Voices of the People

February 20, 2013

By foregrounding the need for "inclusive growth", the Eleventh Five Year Plan (EFYP) sought to make a major shift in the development strategy of the Indian state.


By foregrounding the need for "inclusive growth", the Eleventh Five Year Plan (EFYP) sought to make a major shift in the development strategy of the Indian state. This was borne out of the realisation that while at one level, India's economy had recorded an impressive growth rate of 8.9%, during the Tenth Plan period; at another level, large sections of the population remained untouched by the development trajectory of the nation.


Responding to the critical need for bringing people into the exercise of assessing how far the schemes and programmes of the Eleventh Plan have worked for them, a number of civil society organisations came together to facilitate a People's Mid Term Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The main objective of the People's Mid Term Appraisal is to add people's voices to the crucial exercise of evaluating the Plan as well as recommend forward looking strategies. The process involved three strategies:


1) Building a larger coalition to democratise the discourse on development planning in the country;


2) Building a strong evidence base to critically assess the functioning of the Plan and thereby suggest future directions; and


3) Taking people's voices regarding the Plan to the relevant policy makers


With the objective of building a larger coalition and engaging people in the assessment of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, ten State Consultations were held in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam and Orissa. Five Regional Consultations were also held as part of this process in Patna, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Shimla and Shillong for East, South, West, North and North-East zones respectively. This report consolidates the key issues and recommendations that emerged through this consultative process.


In addition, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were held in 100 villages (across 20 districts in 10 states) to elicit people's opinions on the status of delivery of basic services such as health, education, drinking water and sanitation and implementation of related government programmes and schemes. The report presents 10 FGDs out of the total sample.


Lastly, the report also presents interesting case stories which bring to fore some critical concerns that demand immediate attention.


We also hope that in the coming years, the Planning Commission will institutionalise the mechanism to collect and reflect on the views of the common people and civil society in a substantial manner.


More than 3150 organisations and individuals participated directly in the process. This process would not have been possible without the active participation of various organisations and individuals who gathered together to share their views on critical issues. We are grateful to all our state and regional partners who coordinated the process of consultations. And, we acknowledge with deep gratitude the support extended by UNDP.