Aam aadmi to remain priority: PM
A year into his second five-year tenure as head of the United Progressive Alliance government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented a formal report to the people on the year gone by and the expectation of what was to come.
Announcing India would have a rate of economic growth of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, the PM said he looked at the year ahead with cautious optimism. Conceding rising prices had put pressure on the government, he said drought and international developments were responsible.
India, he said, had resorted to fiscal stimuli to deal with the fallout of the global slowdown but modification was needed now. It has worked well, but now we must return to the path of fiscal prudence, leading to a calibrated reduction in our fiscal deficit. We must work to ensure the economy grows, so that our resources expand, enabling us to spend. Concerned over inflation, double-digit (10.6 per cent) in February, the PM said the government would monitor the situation and “take whatever corrective steps are necessary to rein in” prices.
He said the government was concerned about the less privileged and once the Unique Identification project gathers momentum the first set of Aadhaar numbers would be issued between August 2010 and February 2011. He said this project would provide a platform for direct transfer of benefits and subsidies to the poor, an important instrument to expand financial inclusion.
Singh talked about the Food Security Bill and also of a national Social Security Fund, flagged in the first UPA budget of the governments second term.
He listed diverse measures his government had taken in making the lives of rural and urban Indians better. He referred to the Jawaharlal Nehru urban renewal missions, the initiatives taken for the rural areas, including providing cheap and easy credit to farmers, assistance including medical assistance to the poor, cheaper and more accessible quality education and reform in education. He promised changes in mining laws.
Reiterating there were no differences in the approach of government and party, the PMs address today insisted the focus of governance would be the aam aadmi. In our second term, we will carry forward the pro-people policies and programmes initiated by our government since 2004, were his opening remarks.
Our government made a commitment to the people to give a new deal to rural India. I assure you that funds will not be a constraint when it comes to the core concerns of the aam aadmi, whose interests we have been elected to serve, Singh added.
NO PRICKLY ISSUES
The address and the report card skipped mention of contentious legislation such as the Pension Fund, Insurance Act amendments or Land Acquisition amendment issues. In this second year, the PM said, the government would lay special emphasis on the concerns and interests of the scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, other backward classes, minorities and women. Agriculture and the well being of Indias farmers will receive priority attention, he said in his initial remarks.
The address and the report card skipped mention of contentious legislation such as the Pension Fund, Insurance Act amendments or Land Acquisition amendment issues. In this second year, the PM said, the government would lay special emphasis on the concerns and interests of the scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, other backward classes, minorities and women. Agriculture and the well being of Indias farmers will receive priority attention, he said in his initial remarks.
Empowering women, an oft-stressed theme of UPA head Sonia Gandhi, found prominent mention in the PMs speech. Our government will continue to give the highest priority to the empowerment of women, of the weaker sections of our society and of minorities, he said.