Says no single cure; announces public procurement policy, Bill to monitor regulatory authorities.
However, calling for understanding and restraint, he cautioned against anything that would affect India’s security and prosperity, given the rest of the world was in the throes of an economic slowdown.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort on the occasion of Independence Day, the Prime Minister said corruption had many forms. “In some instances, funds meant for schemes for the welfare of the common man end up in the pocket of government officials. In some other instances, government discretion is used to favour a selected few. There are also cases where government contracts are wrongfully awarded to the wrong people. We cannot let such activities continue unchecked,” he said.
Speaking about the Lok Pal Bill introduced in Parliament, which leaves out the higher judiciary as another on judicial accountability is in the works, he said, “Those who don’t agree with this Bill can put forward their views to Parliament, political parties and even the press.” “However, I also believe they should not resort to hunger strikes and fasts unto death,” he said, referring to the campaign by Anna Hazare.
The PM said a single step, such as a Lok Pal, alone would not be able to end corruption. Some other steps needed were a law to oversee public procurement by the end of the year, an end to most discretionary powers in allocation of scarce resources (like mines), and a Bill to monitor regulatory authorities and make them more accountable without compromising their independence, he said.
The PM outlined investment in infrastructure and the power sector as a priority. He said he wanted equitable development. “It is natural that tensions would sometimes arise in this process of change. In a democracy, such tensions also become issues of political polarisation. We should endeavour that even as political parties oppose and engage in debate against each other, the pace of our progress does not get affected.”
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Cautioning against any politics that would create fear in the minds of investors and the industry, the PM said all political parties had to guard against such a tendency. India did not have an economic crisis like many in the rest of the world, he said, but it had its own big problem: inflation. While governments had been successful in beating it back in the past, he said it would be his government's singular priority. Commenting on the announced public procurement legislation, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told Business Standard, “The Vinod Dhall committee has suggested we should have a public procurement law. The idea has been discussed at various levels in the government and the Prime Minister is now saying we are going to do it. It's a good idea, there is no doubt about it”.
On a legislation for governing various regulators, he said, “The Prime Minister has said we are going to consider a framework legislation to govern various regulators. This is very significant as we have created a number of regulators but there is no overarching legislation governing them”. The PM also called for a more effective system of delivery of justice. The government was going to be more proactive in favour of those who were disadvantaged, he said. A food security law and a just, fair and transparent method of land acquisition would be put in place soon. Slum dwellers, he said, must get ownership of clean houses and access to basic amenities. “We will implement the Rajiv Awas Yojana as a national mission together with the states,” he said.
Saying the very reasons for Naxalism needed to be eradicated, he said a new scheme for the accelerated development of 60 backward and tribal-dominated districts, at a cost of Rs 3,300 crore over two years, had been put in place. An education commission to work towards the universalisation of secondary education and a 12th Plan with health as its focus would be announced soon, he said. The PM’s address had only two lines on relations with the world, suggesting India, for the moment, was looking at itself rather than its external environment.