Education, RTI, food security & governance...

Steps taken for enactment of the National Food Security Act, strengthening the Right to Information regime, drought management, implementation of the Right to Education Act and progress in flagship schemes are the highlights of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s report to the people.

Steps taken for enactment of the National Food Security Act, strengthening the Right to Information regime, drought management, implementation of the Right to Education Act and progress in flagship schemes are the highlights of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s report to the people.

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The government plans to release the report on the achievements of UPA-II during the past one year either on Saturday or next week.

The document was scheduled to be released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence on May 22 to mark the first anniversary of UPA-II. The event was cancelled after the air crash in Mangalore.

The report mentions the initiation of a performance monitoring and evaluation system for government departments.

It also details the progress in rural housing, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, rural water supply, welfare of ex-servicemen and workers in the unorganised sector, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, scholarships to SC, ST and OBC students and steps taken to improve irrigation.

The government will also enumerate how it managed last year’s drought.

The report will feature various schemes being implemented for the welfare of minorities, physically challenged and senior citizens.

On the foreign front, the report will highlight initiatives taken to resume talks with Pakistan at the foreign secretary-level and its ties with various countries and groupings.

On the economic front, the report is expected to highlight the steps taken to minimise the effects of the global financial crisis and how it maintained an impressive growth rate at the same time.

Since the beginning of its first term in 2004, the Congress-led UPA government has released annual reports on its performance and updates on the implementation of various flagship schemes.

This year, the report assumes significance in the absence of a national common minimum programme.