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Fear not the slowdown: PM

THIS nation of 100 crore people, inheriting a five thousand year old civilisation, is today scripting an illustrious chapter in its history.

Remember the many hardships that we had to go through three years ago in the aftermath of the nuclear tests at Pokharan. Today, those difficulties are receding. We faced those hardships for the sake of our national security, and we did so successfully. T oday, our relations with many important countries of the world have grown stronger and deeper. We are engaged in a Strategic Dialogue with them on a regular basis. Indias prestige has gone up globally.

India is one of the ten fastest growing economies in the world. In terms of size, India is counted among the four largest economies of the world. India has emerged as one of the front-ranking nations in the world in information technology, missile techno logy, and in many other areas.

When I see young women and men of the new generation handling high responsibilities with aplomb, my faith in India's future gets strengthened. It is these people who are making India a better place than before. They are the architects of Indias strong an d glorious tomorrow.

In spite of the population having more than trebled in the past five decades, we have been able to reduce the percentage of people living below the poverty line. In the decade of the 1990s, it has fallen from 36 per cent to 26 per cent.

I do not claim that we have been able to eradicate poverty as rapidly as we should, or could, have. But I am confident that abject poverty is on its way out in India.

It is true that Indias economy is currently going through a slowdown. But this is a temporary phenomenon. This is also a global phenomenon, and not limited to India alone. But there is no need to get too worried on this score, because the fundamental ind icators of India's economy are quite strong.

Prices are stable. Inflation is under control. Foreign exchange reserves are at a record high. And, our godowns are bursting with foodgrains. Because of good monsoon, there are bright prospects of the coming crops on the economic front.

We have taken steps to increase investment in all the infrastructure areas, in industries, and in agriculture. We shall soon take more steps in this direction. These will help in bringing the economic slowdown to an end.

Our farmer brothers, hard work have not only made India self-sufficient in foodgrains, but have produced a big surplus. Scarcity of foodgrains has become a thing of the past now. Earlier, we used to import food. Now, we are an exporter.

Today, the Government's godowns have a stock of more than 60 million tonnes of foodgrains. We are augmenting the storage capacity. I am well aware of the many problems that our farmers are grappling with. We have been constantly trying to mitigate them. It has been our endeavour to ensure that the kisan gets fair and remunerative price for his crops.

Some people have been expressing apprehensions that cheap farm imports will flood Indian markets because of our commitments to the WTO. These have been proved false. We are quite capable, depending on our needs, to impose or hike import duties and to che ck unfair imports. We have, in fact, done so in some cases.

It is true that a new scenario of world trade is emerging. This has presented many challenges to Indian agriculture and to the rest of our economy. We can and we shall face these challenges through collective and coordinated action.

I appeal to all our farmers, workers, managers, businessmen, scientists and researchers to prepare our economy to face global competition more vigorously. For this, our agriculture and industries have to constantly improve their quality. They also have t o significantly reduce their production costs.

This year marks the decade of India's New Economic Policy. This policy has brought many gains to our economy. At the same time, however, several new problems have also cropped up. It is true that certain recent developments have highlighted some of the w eaknesses in our financial and capital markets. This has made people feel rather worried.

We have taken several steps to remove these weaknesses, and we shall take more steps in the future. The functioning of the stockmarkets and financial institutions will be reformed to protect the interests of small investors.

Profits earned by hook or by crook cannot be the sole criterion for judging the success of a business. The success of liberalisation requires the steady development of a new corporate ethic. Some cases of corruption and scandals have surfaced in recent t imes. We cannot turn a blind eye to corruption, nor can we let corruption proliferate. A corrupt man must receive punishment for his deeds. I reassure you that corrupt elements will not be able to escape the long arm of the law, irrespective of how high a chair they may occupy.

This year marks a decade of New Economic Policy of India. There is no doubt that economic liberalization has benefited India. At the same time, this too is true that the fruits of liberalisation have not adequately reached the poor and people living in r ural areas. Inequalities have increased.

Therefore, after serious introspection, my Government has decided to give a new pro-poor, pro-village, and pro-employment orientation to our economic policy. We shall make necessary modifications in the policy to remove regional imbalances and social ine qualities.

We are determined to ensure that the new economic policy becomes a promoter of social justice and that its benefits reach our brothers and sisters belonging to Dalit, Adivasi, backward, and most backward sections of our society.

We have unveiled several important schemes towards this end in the past three years. In the same direction, we now propose to take some new measures:

The Centre will launch an ambitious new scheme of Rs 10,000 crore to provide additional and guaranteed employment in rural areas. This centrally sponsored scheme will be called the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana.

Our economy shows a strange paradox. Nearly all the savings of our people are deposited in banks. The banks are unable to use these funds fully for developmental projects.

On the other hand, the unorganized sector of the economy does not get adequate bank credit. This sector constitutes two-thirds of our economy. The loan repayment record of this sector is indeed better than that of big industries. We are considering some institutional measures to make resources available to the unorganized businesses and industries.

India is urbanizing rapidly. As a result, there is a growing shortage of affordable housing for the urban poor. The Government has, therefore, decided to launch Ambedkar Valmiki Malin Basti Awas Yojana, to benefit especially those belonging to the sched uled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes, and other weaker sections. The Ministry of Urban Development will give a yearly grant of Rs. 1,000 crore to this project. HUDCO, which will implement this scheme, will make available another Rs. 2,000 cror e as a loan amount.

There is a shortage of three lakh housing units for the families of the jawans in our Armed Forces. At the present rate of housing construction, it will take thirty years for this shortage to end. We have decided to build these three lakh housing units i n the next four years.

I had mentioned, in my address to the nation on Independence Day last year, about the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. This is now being implemented in almost all the States. So far, the Centre has made Rs 5,000 crore available for this project. This project would need Rs 60,000 crore for completion. It is our aim to provide all-weather road connectivity to all villages and hamlets in the country, with a population of more than five hundred, by the end of the Tenth Plan in 2007.

The National Highways Development Project of Rs. 55,000 crore is one of the ambitious projects of independent India. We shall further intensify the work on this project. I am confident that these two major road connectivity programmes would create lakhs of new employment opportunities and also give our economy a big boost.

Our objective is Freedom from Distance. We are, therefore, determined to link all the villages of India not only with good roads, but also with good telecom and Internet services. A lot of progress has taken place in this regard in the past two years. We shall further accelerate this work. Small and cottage industries are a big source of employment. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) alone provides employment to more than sixty lakh people under its various units. It has added six lakh n ew employment opportunities during the past three years. We shall take many new measures to strengthen the KVIC. We have also launched effective steps to popularize khadi and village industry products in foreign markets.

Tourism is a big source of employment generation and foreign exchange earning. Indeed, it is the fastest growing industry in the world today. To achieve this end, we shall unveil a progressive National Tourism Policy before the end of this year.

We are all citizens of an India that is on her way to attaining greatness. We should have confidence in India's future. We should have faith in ourselves. We should have trust in our own hands and in our own brains. Trust is a resource. It has been my en deavour and the endeavour of my Government that we nurture mutual trust. Trust should not be broken. Nobody should come in the way of building mutual trust.

It is only on the strength of mutual trust, cooperation, and coexistence that we can create a future of hope for India.

Come, let us together resolve today to build a united, strong, prosperous and a caring India.

Jai Hind

Picture: The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day.

Picture by Kamal Narang

(Excerpts from the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee's address to the nation on the occasion of 54th anniversary of Independence.)