Health, education, skill development and infrastructure will be the focus areas of the 12th five year plan. This was asserted in the full planning commission meeting on Thursday.

The commission’s targets for the 12th plan (April 2012 to March 2017) include 100 per cent adult literacy, 20 percent gross enrollment ratio in higher education and universalisation of secondary education.

The commission proposed to double the spending on health and increasing the expenditure on infrastructure, including irrigation, watershed management and urban infrastructure, by 0.7 percent.

“There was general agreement that the planning commission should focus on policy and governance reforms, while working towards a growth target of between 9.0 and 9.5 per cent for the 12th five year plan. We should also set monitorable targets related to different dimensions of inclusiveness, and then work to achieve these targets by appropriate design of policy and funding of Plan schemes, said the prime minister.

The PM added that he was concerned over the fact that the growth was not inclusive and there was a possibility of missing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).