Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the effects of the global slowdown were likely to recede by the end of 2009, but the real challenge for India was how quickly 9 per cent growth could be restored and appealed to all businessmen and industrialists to join the government in this task.
He did not mention Pakistan or Nepal or Sri Lanka in his speech, the three countries in the neighbourhood with whom relations have been somewhat rocky lately, but merely said India wanted a peaceful and developed South Asia.
He noted that because of the deficient monsoon, which would have an adverse impact on the economy, debt repayment by farmers had been postponed. But despite support to agriculture, he conceded the rising prices of foodgrains and pulses and asked state government to prevent hoarding and blackmarketing of essential commodities.
The Aam Admi was the focus of the speech and several promises were made to him: further improvement in the National Rural Employment Guarantees Scheme(NREGS) including new types of work, a food security law that will provide every family living below the poverty line with a fixed amount of foodgrain every month so that no Indian goes hungry; and the extension of Integrated Community Development Scheme (ICDS) to every child below six by March 2012.
While hailing the Right to Education Act, the PM said money would be no object in expanding education. To this end, he announced a new scheme to help poor students by way of reduced interest rate on their education loans. This will benefit about 5 lakh students in getting technical and professional education.
He also announced the expansion of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover each family below the poverty line. He asked Indians to tackle the H1N1 virus flu calmly and without anxiety.
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While conceding that Bharat Nirman had improved, to a limited extent, rural and urban disparities, more ambitious targets for schemes for house construction and telecommunications in rural areas will be set, he said.
20 Km of National Highways are being constructed every day. Railways have started work on the Dedicated Freight Corridors. The problems of Air India were being given careful consideration and would be resolved soon, he said.
Discounting reports that the Jawaharalal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the urban areas was not working, he said the programme would be accelerated. He announced that the Rajiv Awas Yojana will provide better housing to slum dwellers.
A Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission will be launched on 14th November of this year to harness solar energy and mitigate the effects of Climate Change.
“Every government should be sensitive to people's complaints and dissatisfaction. But nothing is achieved by destroying public property and indulging in violence against one's fellow citizens. Our democracy has no place for those who resort to violence to express their disagreement, and the government will deal firmly with such people” he said.
The Central Government will redouble its efforts to deal with Naxalite activities, he said.
Rejecting the notion that development of the minorities and the deprived sections of society was tantamount to ‘appeasement’, he said every effort will be made to address the problems of minorities. Women’s welfare will be especially monitored.
“We respect the special assurances and concessions provided to Jammu & Kashmir in our Constitution. We will continue to honour these special provisions”, he said.
The Right to Information Act will be improved so that it is more effective. The Unique Identification Authority of India will issue the first set of identity numbers in the next one to one and a half years.