• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Kamal Narang

Economy on the move: The President, Ms Pratibha Patil, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr P.R. Dasmunshi, arriving to attend the first day of the Budget Session at Parliament House in the Capital on Monday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 25

The Centre plans to expand the coverage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) from the existing 330 districts to all rural districts from April, the President, Ms Pratibha Patil, said in her maiden address to the joint sitting of the Parliament on Monday.

Noting that the growth of the Indian economy by close to nine per cent per annum for four years in a row — the first time in its history — had enabled the Centre to pursue its goal of “inclusive growth”, Ms Patil indicated a further step-up in outlays under the five “flagship programmes” in the forthcoming Budget.

These include the NREG, Bharat Nirma (to bridge the rural-urban gap in development), the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (for universalising education), the National Rural Health Mission and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. “The architecture of inclusive governance is defined by my Government’s flagship programmes,” she stated.

The President said that the economy is now “on the move”, with investment rate touching an all-time high of over 35 per cent of gross domestic product.

“This performance is all the more creditable against the background of high international oil prices and rising commodity prices, including for food. It will continue to be the endeavour of my Government to sustain growth while keeping prices under check,” she noted.

“World crude oil prices have almost doubled in the past two years to reach $100 per barrel, yet my Government has managed to moderate the impact on the domestic consumer,” she added.

More Stories on : Employment | Rural Development

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
‘Job guarantee scheme for all rural districts soon’

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line