May 25, 2:16 PM
The country has made significant progress in health, education and employment and other sectors during the last nine years of UPA government. In a major public health achievement, the country has demonstrated an overall reduction of 57 per cent in estimated annual new HIV infections, particularly among adult population. It reduced from 2.74 lakh in 2000 to 1.16 lakh in 2011, reflecting the impact of scaled up prevention and interventions. There has been not a single case of wild polio reported in the country since January 2011 owing to extensive immunization efforts. According to a report released by the UPA-2 government on completion of its four years in office, enrolments in the higher education sector have increased by 50 per cent. More than 10 crore children continue to get hot cooked meals daily under the Mid Day Meal Scheme across 12.2 lakh elementary schools during 2012-13.
Every fifth household in the country is benefited from Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, which is in operation in 632 districts. In 2012-13, it provided employment to more than 4.8 crore households, generating more than 213 crore person-days of employment at a total expenditure of more than 39,000 crore rupees. A provision has also been made for additional employment over and above 100 days per household under the scheme in notified drought-affected talukas and blocks in the country.
AIR correspondent reports, the government has accelerated the expansion of telecom and IT services in rural areas. In all, 5.8 lakh out of the total 5.93 lakh inhabited villages in the country have been provided with Village-Public-Telephones. Out of 3.5 lakh targeted village panchayats, 1.57 lakh have been connected through broadband. The National Optical Fibre Network Project aims to provide broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh villages by 2014.
