• Given the special focus on education in the Eleventh Plan, this Plan is also known as ‘National Education Plan’.

• The Eleventh Plan addresses itself to the challenge of making growth both faster and more inclusive. The rapid growth achieved in the past several years demonstrates that we have learnt how to bring about growth, but we have yet to achieve comparable success in inclusiveness.

• In health, the Plan aims at providing improved broad based health care in rural areas, through the National Rural Health Mission. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana will provide the much needed insurance cover against illness to the population below the poverty line.

• An important aspect of the Eleventh Plan is that most of the public sector programmes are in areas that are normally in the domain of the State Governments and where implementation depends upon the active involvement of local level bodies, including the Panchayati Raj Institutions. More than any other Plan, the Eleventh Plan places a much greater reliance upon the involvement of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.