'The Democratic Process Of Change'

Honourable Members,

I am delighted to address the first session of both Houses of Parliament after the elections to the 14th LokSabha. My greetings to all the members, particularly to the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha. You hadall worked during the last three months in the scorching heat of the summer, had many sleepless nights,travelled hundreds and thousands of kilometres, met thousands of voters and explained how you will shape thefuture of the people and the country. On your successful election to this august body, I congratulate you all.

Before I dwell on the task ahead of us, I would like to congratulate the Election Commission of India forsmoothly conducting the 14th Lok Sabha elections using Electronic Voting Machines in all the booths for thefirst time. 

The first general elections of this millennium reflect the firm conviction of our people in the democraticprocess of change. These elections have demonstrated the vibrancy of our democracy. 

The outcome of the elections is indicative of people’s yearning for inclusiveness – economic, social andcultural and their rejection of the forces of divisiveness and intolerance. The verdict is for establishingthe rule of law and repairing our secular fabric. This Government is committed to providing the right ambiencefor fulfilling the aspirations implicit in the people’s mandate.

The Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance, supported by the Left and other like-mindedparties, reflects the commitment of all participants to implement this programme and making it the foundationfor collective maximum performance. Only through your active participation in discussions pertaining tonational development and your determination to resolve all the problems coming in the way of implementingdevelopment programmes, will we be able to achieve the goal of making a billion people smile. 

The Common Minimum Programme is indicative of the broad thrust of the priorities of this Government. It willbe the sincere effort of the Government to implement the Programme during the next five years. 

However, the precise content and phasing of programmes will depend on both the availability of resources andthe pace of improvement of the absorptive capacity of various sectors. Our effort will be to move forward onthe twin roads of efficiency and equity while maintaining a high degree of fiscal and financial discipline. Mygovernment will need to devise imaginative measures to ensure that our macro economic policies balanceappropriately the concerns for rapid growth, stability and social equity. 

My government is committed to preserving, protecting and promoting secular values and enforcing the lawwithout fear or favour to deal with all obscurantist and fundamentalist elements that seek to disturb socialamity and peace. We will ensure that the economy maintains a growth rate of at least 7-8% per year for asustained period and in a manner that generates employment and provides assured livelihood for each family.While doing so, my government will focus on improving income and welfare of farmers, farm labour and workers;empowering women and providing equality of opportunity for people belonging to the Scheduled Castes, ScheduledTribes, OBCs and religious minorities. 

My government will carry forward the process of social and economic development so that the 21st centurybecomes India’s century. This calls for speeding up economic reforms that ushered the country into an era ofrapid economic growth. Further reforms will be carried out in agriculture, industry and services. The reformswill have a human face and will ensure that the benefits flowing from such reforms reach the urban poor andrural areas, where the vast majority of our population lives.  

The Government stands committed to accelerating the pace of rural development through grassroots democracy inconsonance with the letter and spirit of the constitutional provisions in this regard. Our country hasapproximately 2.3 lakh Village Panchayats and Panchayati Raj institutions at intermediate and district levels.These will be empowered through effective devolution of functions, functionaries and finances to emerge astrue institutions of participative democracy. The Gram Sabha will be empowered to emerge as the foundation ofthe Panchayati Raj system. The Government will ensure that all funds for poverty alleviation and ruraldevelopment programmes get directly credited to Panchayat bodies to enable them to serve the people better.Appropriate guidelines will be prepared for effective utilisation of such funds. 

A substantial portion of Government’s investment will be channelled to the villages, with special emphasison improving basic infrastructure such as roads, power and drinking water in rural areas. 

Connectivity of village complexes for providing economic opportunities to all segments of people will getspecial emphasis to bridge the rural-urban divide. Let us not have a mindset that poorer quality ruralinfrastructure or poor products would suffice for rural consumption.

Public investment in agriculture will be stepped up significantly with focus on the backward and poor regionsso as to substantially boost farmers’ income. The Government will ensure that the flow of agriculturalcredit is significantly stepped up and the coverage of small and marginal farmers by institutional lendingexpands substantially. The entire rural credit system will be restored to health. Government is sensitive tothe debt-burden of farmers and will take suitable steps in this regard. Farm insurance schemes will be mademore responsive to the needs of farmers. The Government will actively encourage investments in agro-processingindustries to reduce wastage and encourage value addition benefitting farmers. 

The Government will introduce a special programme for dry-land farming. An intensive agricultural developmentprogramme for the districts in the arid and semi-arid regions of the country will be put in place. Watersheddevelopment projects will be promoted on a large-scale, and the wasteland development programme lying dormantthese past few years will be revived.

My government will ensure that farmers all over the country receive fair and remunerative prices and thegovernment agencies, entrusted with the responsibility for procurement and marketing, pay special attention tofarmers in poor and backward states and districts. Our negotiations in the World Trade Organization will besuch as to fully protect the interests and livelihood of our large farming community, which is the backbone ofour country. The Government will ensure proper implementation of minimum wage laws for farm labour. Effectivemeasures will be taken to protect the interest of all agricultural workers. The process of land reforms willbe speeded up and efforts to distribute surplus productive land to the landless will be redoubled. 

The Government will accelerate the development and use of the country’s irrigation potential. Starting withpeninsular rivers, the environmental, ecological and techno-economic feasibility of linking the rivers of thecountry will be carefully examined. Steps will be taken to ensure that long-pending inter-state disputes onrivers and water-sharing, like the Cauvery Water dispute, are settled amicably keeping in view the interestsof all parties to the dispute. All ongoing irrigation projects will be completed in a time-bound manner.

The Government is concerned that a significant portion of our population does not have access to safe drinkingwater. My government will work with the State Governments to draw up innovative schemes including harvestingrainwater and de-silting existing ponds. Effective measures will be taken to put an end to the acute shortageof drinking water in drought prone areas and in cities like Chennai, including through setting up desalinationplants wherever found viable. Special problems of habitations in hilly terrains will be addressed immediately. 

The Government is painfully aware of the shrinking employment opportunities for the youth. The Government willadopt policies to expand employment opportunities by creating a climate conducive to investments in theorganised sector. Along with vastly expanding credit facilities for small-scale industry and self-employment,the services sector will be given all support to realise its true employment potential. New jobs will also becreated in other areas like village industries, textiles, handicrafts, horticulture, aquaculture, forestry,dairying and agro-processing so as to benefit the rural and urban youth. With a view to providing guaranteedemployment for 100 days in a year to at least one able bodied person in each rural household, a nationalEmployment Guarantee Act will be legislated soon and implemented in a phased manner. 

To enhance the employability of our youth, systematic efforts will be made to appropriately vocationalisesecondary education and to establish at least one industrial training institute in each development block ofthe country through creative public-private partnerships. 

Women and children, particularly those belonging to poor households, are the most vulnerable groups of oursociety that need special attention. Government will earmark at least one-third of all funds flowing intopanchayats for programmes relating to the development of women and children. Village women and theirassociations will be encouraged to assume responsibility for all development schemes relating to drinkingwater, sanitation, primary education, health and nutrition. There will be a major expansion in schemes formicro-finance based on self-help groups, particularly in the backward and ecologically sensitive regions. 

The Government will take the lead to introduce legislation for one-third reservation for women in VidhanSabhas and the Lok Sabha. Legislation on domestic violence and against gender discrimination will be enacted.Complete legal equality for women in all spheres will be made a practical reality. 

It is a matter of concern that even today over a third of babies born in India are under-weight reflectingacute malnourishment, particularly of the girl child. Nutrition programmes, will be expanded on a significantscale with special focus on the girl-child. 

A national cooked nutritious mid-day meal scheme, funded mainly by the central government will be introducedin a phased manner in primary and secondary schools. The Government will progressively universalise theIntegrated Child Development Services scheme.

The State has an important role to play in providing requisite support to the disabled so that they do not getleft out of the mainstream. The Government will initiate special measures to ensure that the disabled getequal opportunity and are in a position to meaningfully contribute to the task of nation building. Trade andindustry will be sensitised to their social obligations in this respect. Our senior citizens also deservespecial care. The Government will consider their problems and initiate measures that would make their livesmore comfortable in their old age.

Health is an essential element in the development process and a crucial input for improving the quality oflife. The Government will increase public spending on health to at least 2-3% of GDP over the next five years,with the focus on primary health care. Universal immunisation programmes will be effectively implementedthroughout the country to eliminate avoidable child-diseases. The Government will step up public investment inprogrammes to control communicable diseases. A special thrust will be given to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDSin the country. A national scheme of health insurance for poor families will be introduced. The Governmentwill take all steps to ensure the availability of life-saving drugs at reasonable prices. The Family Welfareprogrammes will be strengthened and revitalised. 

India’s greatest resource is its people. The full potential of our human resources has yet to be effectivelyutilised. High priority will, therefore, be accorded to education. The Government will aim at increasingpublic spending on education so as to ultimately reach at least 6% of GDP, with half the amount earmarked forprimary and secondary education. 

Acess will be proposed on all central taxes to finance the commitment to universalise access to quality basiceducation. A National Commission on Education will be set up to allocate resources and monitor programmes. 

My government is aware of the systematic erosion of autonomy of our institutions of repute in recent years. Mygovernment will ensure that all institutions of higher learning and professional education get back theautonomy that they enjoyed earlier. At the same time, the Government will ensure that nobody is deniedprofessional education because he or she is poor. Apart from increasing the supply of loan scholarships andrefinance through banks, the Government will put in place institutional mechanisms to provide loans ataffordable rates to those who can not afford the costs of college and university education in science,engineering, medicine and management studies. 

Academic excellence and professional competence will be the sole criteria for all appointments to bodies suchas the Indian Council for Historical Research, Indian Council for Social Science Research, University GrantsCommission, National Council for Educational Research and Training etc. Steps will be taken to remove thecommunalisation of the school syllabus that has taken place in recent years. 

It is a matter of serious concern that the forces of communalism have been able to vitiate the atmosphere inthe country leading to out-break of riots, the most gruesome face of which was witnessed recently in Gujarat.My government is determined to combat such forces. The Government will adopt all possible measures to promoteand maintain communal peace and harmony so that minorities feel completely secure. My government will enact amodel law to deal with communal violence and encourage states to adopt it. 

The Government will examine the question of providing constitutional status to the Minorities Commission andwill strive for recognition and promotion of Urdu language under Articles 345 and 347 of the Constitution.

On Ayodhya issue, my government will await the verdict of the courts while encouraging negotiations betweenparties to the dispute for an amicable settlement, which, in turn, must receive legal sanction. The Governmentis also committed to implementing the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1992.

Steps will be taken to establish a Commission to look into issues relating to direct affiliation of minorityprofessional institutions with central universities. Measures will also be taken to spread modern andtechnical education among minority communities. A National Commission will be established to makerecommendations on how best to enhance the welfare of socially and economically backward sections amongreligious and linguistic minorities, including through reservation in education and employment. 

The Government is sensitive to the issue of affirmative action including reservations in the private sectorand it is committed to faster socio-economic and educational development of the Scheduled Castes and theScheduled Tribes. My government will initiate a dialogue with political parties, industry and other bodies onhow best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 

Reservation quotas in Government, including those relating to promotions, will be fulfilled in a time-boundmanner. To codify all policies on reservations, appropriate legislation will be enacted. The Government willlaunch a comprehensive national programme for minor irrigation of lands owned by people belonging to theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Landless families will be endowed with land through implementation ofland ceiling and redistribution legislation. No reversal of ceilings legislation will be permitted.

State governments will be urged to bring about a legislation conferring ownership rights in respect of minorforest produce on people from weaker sections working in forests. Eviction of tribal communities and otherforest-dwelling communities from forest areas will be stopped. The Government will reconcile the objectives ofenvironmental conservation and faster economic growth without jeopardising the ecological balance or dilutingthe objectives of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. An effective system will be put in place forrehabilitating the tribal communities displaced by development projects.

My government is concerned about the growth of Naxalite violence in various parts of the country. Rather thanbeing an ordinary law-and-order problem, such violence is symptomatic of a much deeper socio-economic malaise,which needs to be treated systematically. My government will, therefore, look into the causes behind thegrowth of such senseless violence and take steps to put the Naxalite-affected areas on a higher trajectory ofeconomic growth so that they catch up with the rest of the country. 

The Government will strengthen the public distribution system particularly in the poorest and backward blocksof the country and also involve women and ex-servicemen’s cooperatives in its management at the local level. 

Special schemes will be launched to ensure that foodgrains reach the most destitute and infirm. Grain banks inchronically food-scarce areas will be established. Antyodaya cards for all households at risk of hunger willbe introduced. 

The Government is firmly committed to ensuring the welfare and well-being of all workers, particularly thosein the unorganised sector who constitute over 90% of our workforce. Social security, health insurance andother schemes for such workers, fishermen and fisherwomen, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour,beedi workers etc. will be expanded. The Government will establish a National Commission to examine theproblems that the enterprises operating in the unorganised sector are facing. 

My government recognises that some changes are needed in labour laws so that the manufacturing sector growsrapidly with concomitant expansion in the employment opportunities. However, such changes must ensure thatworkers and their families are fully protected. The Government will pursue a dialogue with industry and tradeunions on this issue before coming up with specific proposals. The Government firmly believes that labour-managementrelations in our country must be marked by consultations, cooperation and consensus. Tripartite consultationswith trade unions and industry on all proposals concerning them will be actively pursued. 

Development of infrastructure will get a high priority.