Congress diverges from Left line

President promises unconditional encouragement to foreign direct investment, FIIs

For the most part, a virtual photocopy of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the President's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament, nevertheless reflected independent thinking by the Congress and diverged sharply from its principal ally, the Left parties.

President APJ Abdul Kalam addressed a joint sitting of MPs in Central Hall in a speech that is prepared on his behalf by the government.

The speech noted, in its commitment to panchayati raj, that the government "will ensure that all funds for poverty alleviation and rural development programmes get directly credited to panchayat bodies to enable them to serve the people better. Appropriate guidelines will be prepared for the effective uttilisation of such funds," the President's address said.

This contradicts the Left demand. In its draft input to the CMP, the CPI(M) had demanded that rural development funds not be given directly to the panchayats but to state governments, which would route them to the panchayats. It including the formulation that it has, the Congress has obviously overridden the opinion of the Left.

Similarly, some Left parties including the CPI had sought a national employment guarantee law that would ensure guaranteed employment for at least 180 days. The President's address limits this to 100 days.

This and other politico economic measures included in the address indicated that while the ruling Congress had by and large deferred to the demands made by the Left parties, it had scaled down their demands to manageable limits in a number of areas, including labour law and privatisation.

The speech promised unconditional "encouragement" to foreign direct investment and FIIs. In the CMP, the FDI was to have been sought in areas of infrastructure, high technology and where local assets were to have been created on a significant scale.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly himself provided inputs for the first half of the address, relating to broad philosophical guidelines that would govern the functioning of the new dispensation.

The President's address mentioned a cess on central taxes for education. It sought to provide constitutional status to the minorities commission and announced the setting up of a national commission for the welfare of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities including through reservation in education and employment.

The speech had a number of sops for the poor, including employment and housing. But in keeping with the Delhi government's position that slum dwellers should not be evicted but that there should be in situ development for them, the address said while undertaking urban renewal, "forced eviction and demolition of slums will be avoided".

To keep its other significant ally, the Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) happy, the address went way beyond the Congress's position on a separate Telangana state by saying "the government will consider the demand for the formation of a Telangana state at an appropriate time after due consultations".

The government, the speech promised, would also set up an administrative reforms commission to revamp public administration.

In respect of foreign policy the President's address was identical to the CMP, with merely the added rider that committed India to a "closer strategic and economic engagement with the US", and "expanding political and security exchanges with China to ensure regional security"""referring presumably to joint naval exercises with China earlier this year.

This could prove to be a challenge. Although as foreign minister, Jaswant Singh had mooted a security and even nuclear dialogue with the Chinese, the Chinese had not followed up the lead because that would have involved recognition of India as a nuclear power on a par with China.