Previous Year Question

In the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12), Social Services received the highest combined public-sector outlay of the Centre, States and Union Territories.

According to the official Eleventh Plan data of the Planning Commission, the projected combined outlays for major sectors were—

• Social Services — ₹11,02,327 crore

• Energy — ₹8,54,123 crore

• Transport — ₹5,72,443 crore

Agriculture and Rural Development were shown under separate heads—

• Agriculture and Allied Activities — ₹1,36,381 crore

• Rural Development — ₹3,01,069 crore

Even when these two are combined, the amount comes to about ₹4,37,450 crore, substantially below the ₹11.02 lakh crore outlay for Social Services.

Social Services broadly included education, health, family welfare, housing, social welfare and other human-development related services. This was consistent with the broader Eleventh Plan objective of “Faster and More Inclusive Growth.”

Therefore, despite large expenditure on infrastructure sectors such as Energy and Transport, the Social Sector had the highest combined Centre-State-UT outlay.