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Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008
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Economy on the move: President

Special Correspondent

Hopes n-deal will be possible

NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Patil pitched in for the Manmohan Singh government’s “inclusive growth, inclusive governance” agenda in her customary address to Parliament at the start of the budget session on Monday.

Addressing the parliamentarians in the Central Hall, Ms. Patil said “the economy is on the move” and that “for the first time in history, the Indian economy has grown at close to nine per cent per annum for four years in a row.”

She patted the government for “prudent and sound economic management.”

While taking pride in the “nine per cent growth,” the address listed all the programmes aimed at achieving equity and fairness in the developmental process. It detailed schemes for the empowerment of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes through increased access to education, and, the law proposed for the social security for the workers in the unorganised sector.

Arguing that “my government has been paying special attention to the welfare of our farmers and has reversed the decline in public investment in agriculture,” she claimed that the Common Minimum Programme’s commitment to double the agricultural credit had been “substantially exceeded.” On the foreign policy front, the Manmohan government remained hopeful of pushing the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal.

Implicitly conceding the difficulties that the deal encountered due to opposition from the Left parties, Ms. Patil noted: “It is our hope that civil nuclear cooperation with the U.S. and other friendly countries will become possible.”

The President said India wanted a Pakistan “at peace with itself” and promised to renew the dialogue with Islamabad as and “when conditions permit.” And, on Sri Lanka, she reiterated India’s position that “there can be no military solution to the ethnic issue.”

At home, the Presidential address contains a forthright defence of the government’s desire to give the minorities a better deal.

Saying that the government wanted to ensure that the benefits of development flow equitably to the minorities, the President declared that “certain proportion of development projects will be located in minority concentration areas and wherever possible, 15 per cent of targets and outlays under various schemes would be earmarked for the minorities.”

President Pratibha Patil's address to Parliament

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