National

All promises fulfilled, says Manmohan

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted on Friday that his government had fulfilled all the “promises,” including “a new deal for rural India,” the Rs. 25,000-crore Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the 71,000-crore loan waiver for distressed farmers and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day, he said: “In the past four years, we have increased bank credit for agricultural sector from Rs.81,000 crore to Rs.2,25,000 crore and reduced the interest rates for farm loans, besides steeply increasing the procurement prices for food grains: 50 per cent for wheat and 30 per cent for paddy in order to improve the economic conditions of farmers,” he said.

The National Food Security Mission was set up to enhance production of rice, wheat and pulses. Irrigation, watershed development, rain-fed areas development and flood management have received special attention that had turned the agricultural economy around.

“Our farms are once again green. Our godowns are once again filling up. Our farmers are once again hopeful about their future and their welfare,” Dr. Singh said.

Making a case for inclusive and equitable growth, he posited a historic link between the past and the present: “our beloved former Prime Minister Shrimati Indira Gandhi had said, ‘Garibi Hatao.’ Our leader, Shrimati Sonia Gandhi, has given us the slogan, ‘Rozgar Badhao.’ Our Government is making special efforts to create ‘rozgar’ to fight ‘garibi.”

Though Dr. Singh noted with satisfaction that “for the first time in history, we have had four years of nearly 9 per cent economic growth,” he did not wish away the galloping inflation, which he attributed “basically due to external factors.”

Contrary to the earlier indications that the controversial civilian nuclear agreement with the United States would be the Independence Day speech’s centrepiece, the Prime minister made only a fleeting reference to it. “The nuclear agreement that we are negotiating with developed countries will end our nuclear isolation. It will open up new opportunities for trade in dual-use high technologies and nuclear materials and equipment and open up new pathways to accelerate industrialisation of the country.”

Dr. Singh concluded with a caution against populist impulses: “we have to manage our natural and financial resources more prudently. We have an obligation to our future generations. We cannot think only for ourselves. We cannot think only about survival from day to day, from year to year and from one election to another.”

Describing malnutrition as a curse that must be removed, Dr. Singh said the government’s effort to provide every child with access to education and improved healthcare to all citizens would continue.

“We need to take forward our initiatives for giving equal status to women and for their social and economic empowerment,” he said while promising to continue striving for the development and prosperity of the country.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu