'Need to speed up industrialisation'

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while announcing a Rs 25,000-crore package for reviving agriculture, made a strong pitch for speedy industrialisation, linking it to job creation and hence income, development and more public expenditure.

He was addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort after hoisting the tri-colour to mark the 60th anniversary of India's Independence.

He said no major country had achieved economic growth without a strong industrial base. He acknowledged there was a lot left to be done but said "we are on the right path".

He admitted, however, that his and the nation's real challenges lay at home. Reflecting on the difficulties of running a coalition government with widely divergent political partners, he said while the world wanted India to do well, "Our challenges lie at home," and asked political and social leaders not to divide people along "narrow, sectarian lines" as "we fritter away our time on petty issues and pointless personal differences."

Revisiting the UPA government's agenda for the aam aadmi, he said, "Poverty eradication is now a feasible goal," which would require creating new job opportunities. However, the government's main emphasis would be on agriculture, for which a special Rs 25,000-crore investment programme to enhance food production and livelihood of farmers would be launched, he said.

"We will also focus on the needs of our farmers in dry and drought-prone regions. I am touring a few states to personally review the agricultural situation across the country," he said.

The prime minister said there was no "magic wand" to remove poverty, which could only be done through sustained economic growth and development.

"Every economically strong country has achieved its goals through industrialisation, and we too should apply ourselves to this," he said. Mindful of several agitations over land acquisition for industry that have hit the countryside, he said plans were afoot to introduce a national policy for the rehabilitation of people displaced by major projects.