Government will step up priority sector lending to minority communities' development programmes as part of the architecture of inclusive growth, President Pratibha Patil said on Monday.

In her maiden address to the joint sitting of Parliament marking the commencement of the Budget Session, she touched upon various issues pertaining to 'aam aadmi' (common man) and said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme would be extended to all rural districts of the country from April.

She said the government has taken various steps to mitigate the plight of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and workers in the unorganised sector. Recalling that prime minister's new 15-point programme for development of minorities aimed at ensuring that benefits flowed equitably to them, Patil said "the proportion of priority sector lending going to minority communities will be stepped up from the present nine per cent to 15 per cent."

Certain proportion of development projects would be located in minority concentration areas and, wherever possible, 15 per cent of targets and outlays under various schemes would be earmarked for the minorities, she said.

The President said to improve the economic and educational status of the minorities several programmes have been launched based on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report.

She said the 11th Plan provides Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) for merit-cum-means based scholarship for professional courses, nearly Rs 3,300 crore (Rs 33 billion) for post and pre-matric scholarship programmes for minority students and Rs 3,780 crore (Rs 37.8 billion) for the development of 90 minority concentration districts.

Speaking about equality of economic opportunity, Patil said the architecture of inclusive growth is further consolidated through the 11th Five Year Plan. "The plan has set a target of (average) 9 per cent GDP growth for the country as a whole to be achieved in a manner that would provide equality of opportunity for quality education for employment and enterprise, free people from the burden of ill-health and eliminate discrimination," she said.

The share of central gross budgetary support (GBS) to key sectors is being substantially increased, she said. Elaborating on the plan outlay, she said the GBS in education goes up from 7.68 per cent in the 10th plan to over 19 per cent in the 11th plan.

The outlay on agriculture, health and rural development have been tripled, she said, adding that taken together with education, these sectors account for more than half of GBS as compared to less than one-third in the 10th plan. This is a major structural shift in the plan priority aimed at reducing disparity and empowering people, she said.

On the infrastructure development, the President said the plan hopes to raise the total annual investment in infrastructure from 5 per cent of GDP to 9 per cent. Public sector investment would continue to play an important role in infrastructure development, supplemented by private investment wherever possible, she said.

Patil also said: "My government has been able to sustain high rates of growth through prudent and sound economic management. This has contributed to the stability of growth process and to predictability and transparency in policy."

This is reflected in rising investment rate and buoyancy of tax revenues both for central and state governments, she added.