The Government of India launched the Ninth Five Year Plan after the 50 years of Indian Independence. During this plan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. The 9th plan focused on the relationship between the rapid economic growth and the quality of life of the people. The main motto of the Ninth Plan was “Growth with Social Justice and Equity“. The period for the 9th plan began on 1 April 1997 and ended on 31 March 2002.
Objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan
The specific objectives of the 9th plan, as approved by the National Development Council (NDC), were as follow:
- Priority to agriculture and rural development to generate adequate productive employment and eradicate poverty.
- To ensure food and nutritional security for all, especially the vulnerable section of society.
- To accelerate the growth rate of the economy with stable prices.
- To provide the Basic minimum services, like safe drinking water, universal primary education, primary health facilities, shelter & connectivity to all in a time-bound manner.
- To empower the women and socially disadvantaged groups, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and Minorities as agents of socio-economic change & development.
- To strengthen the efforts to build self-reliance.
- To contain the growth rate of the population.
- To promote and develop people’s participatory institutions, like Panchayati Raj Institutions, cooperative and self-help groups.
- To ensure environmental sustainability of the development process through social mobilisation and people participation at all levels.
During the 9th plan, new implementation measures in the form of Special Action Plans (SAPs) were evolved to fulfil the time-bound targets within adequate resources. The SAPs covered the specific aspects of social & physical infrastructure, agriculture, information technology and water policy.