A month after the UPA II came out with its report card of its second year in term, the civil society tore into the government's claims with its own performamce assesment. In the assesment report, the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan criticises the government for failing its inclusive growth goals.

The report said that for the poor, government's development programme remains a far-off dream. There has hardly been a change in the lives of these people, the report claimed “The continuing agrarian crisis, distress migration, farmers’ suicide, declining sex ration, corruption, alarmingly high infant and maternal mortality rate, and the current food crisis are grim reminders of the hollowness of the inclusive growth slogan,” the report said.

The report added there are "alarming schisms" and cracks between the "political actors and large sections of the populace". “Such a government has to be accountable to its people,” A B Bardhan, general secretary of CPI said while releasing the report titled ‘The people’s verdict – civil society review of UPA – II government’s performance’.

Coming heavily against the government’s flagship welfare programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the report said, “Five years since the implementation of the programme, it lacks vision and has moved one step forward, two steps backward and many steps sideways.” The report said that the panchayats have no or marginal say in the MGNREGS.

“The government has been extremely slow in fulfilling its promises and insincere in implementation of bills,” Amitabh Behar convenor of WNTA, told Governance Now. He also added, “There is great stress on privatisation by the government but hardly on implementation of its own scheme.”

The report also highlighted general stagnation in social sector spending by the government. “The total union budget outlay for social sectors registers a decline to 1.8 percent of GDP in 2011-12,” said Subrat Das, executive director of centre for budget and governance accountability (CBGA).

In the health sector, the civil society report said the government had shied away from mentioning in its report card the major problems that continue to affect in the under-served areas: ‘the poor infrastructure and the paucity of skilled staff’.

The report also talked about how government failed its promises on bill on social security in the unorganised sector, women’s reservation bill, rehabilitation and resettlement bill and the bill against communal violence.

Dunu Roy of the Hazards Centre who participated in the drafting of the report said, “There is no link between city plans and projects and people’s requirements of work and livelihoods.”

The civil society groups called for a paradigm shift in planning and development  - one that is based not just on economic indicators and growth.

“What growth rate will allow us to reduce inequality?” posed Rajesh Tandon, president of society for participatory research in Asia (PRIA).