Emphasising that inflation was “basically due to external factors”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said food and fuel subsidies had insulated the poor from inflation and would continue.
“Our government has not raised the prices of kerosene and fertilisers. We have not raised the issue price of wheat and rice under the PDS. We are taking determined measures to bring prices under reasonable control. I have urged all chief ministers to improve and strengthen the PDS to ensure availability of essential commodities to the common man at reasonable prices,” the PM said commending the monetary measures undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India. But, he added: “We should avoid doing anything that hurts growth”.
In a speech which underlined that the promises made by his government had been delivered, the PM said a united India was imperative and admitted that lack of timely intelligence may have allowed a window to terrorists.
“I agree that we have to further strengthen our intelligence agencies and police forces to deal with the problem of terrorism,” the PM said. “We will examine the functioning of our intelligence agencies, police and security forces and take all possible steps to equip them to tackle this challenge. Whatever resources are required, will be provided. Whatever manpower is required, will be provided,” he said.
Outlining all the social security initiatives of the government, Singh said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had given a ‘new deal’ to India: Rs 25,000 crore investment through the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, a debt relief package to farmers amounting to Rs 71,000 crore, increase of bank credit for the agriculture sector from Rs 81,000 crore to Rs 2,25,000 crore over the past four years, 50 per cent increase in the procurement price for wheat and 30 per cent for paddy, irrigation, watershed development, rain-fed area development and flood management. This had led, after almost a decade of stagnation in agriculture, to a revival, causing record production of foodgrains, cotton and sugar in 2007-08.
Staying with the social sector, Singh said there had been a massive increase in public investment in education at all levels, including the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the mid-day meal programme, the establishment of 6,000 new high quality model schools, 373 new colleges in backward districts, 30 new universities, 8 new IITs, 7 new IIMs, 20 new IIITs, 5 new Indian Institutes of Science, 2 Schools of Planning and Architecture, 10 NITs, and 1,000 new polytechnics.
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Referring to the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantees Programme (NREGP), he said while Indira Gandhi had given the slogan “garibi hatao (remove poverty)” , Sonia Gandhi’s slogan was “rozgar badhao (increase employment)”, “aimed to soften the sharp edges of poverty”.
“To create more employment, we need more investment in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure. We need a new wave of industrialisation to generate more employment. If industrial development has any adverse impact on some of our rural folk, we will ensure that there is reasonable compensation and proper rehabilitation. A new rehabilitation and resettlement policy has been formulated and we will seek Parliament’s approval for it,” the PM said.
Referring to regional imbalances as a major challenge, he said: “Some parts of our country are doing much better than others. Some states are being left behind. This pattern has persisted for far too long. We must ensure that the less developed states catch up with the developed ones”.
Referring to the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement, the PM said this would help in augmenting power. Referring to the ongoing Amarnath shrine land agitation, Singh appealed to both Hindus and Muslims to resolve the matter amicably. He also said a united India alone could fight the challenges before it.