Pledging to take corruption head on and promising to punish the guilty, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government assured the nation on Sunday that it intended to demonstrate through actions and not words what it meant.
Presenting the UPA's report card on completion of two years in its second term, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi repeatedly stressed that the government was taking steps to prevent any financial scandals in the future, and that the Lokpal Bill would be brought before Parliament in the monsoon session.
Referring to the spate of scams, the Prime Minister said: “These are legitimate concerns and the UPA government is determined to take corrective action… We are taking steps to ... reduce discretionary and arbitrary use of power by public officials.”
Echoing these words, Ms. Gandhi said, “transparency, accountability and probity are at the very heart of our governance, our actions and we demonstrate this.”
Interestingly, for the first time, the section on governance and civil society in the report has a chapter on anti-corruption measures.
But Ms. Gandhi could not resist taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not sacking Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa over corruption charges: “It is unfortunate,” she said, “ that some Opposition parties do not share the same high standards of probity when it comes to their own.”
The report was presented at a function at the Prime Minister's residence on 7 Race Course Road, followed by a dinner party attended by leaders of allied parties and party MPs. The Dravida Munnetra Kazagham made a token appearance with only parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu in attendance – none of its Central Ministers were to be seen. The Trinamool Congress, which swept West Bengal in the recent polls, was represented by party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay.
Stressing “the need to reduce the fiscal and revenue deficits, increase public investment, and cut down on wasteful subsidies,” the Prime Minister said that the challenge had been made all the more daunting by the rise in world fuel prices. “As an importer of oil we have to adopt rational pricing policies. This is not just prudent fiscal management. This is a national security imperative,” he said.
Food security
He pointed out that India could not afford to become too dependent on world markets for food. “The imperatives of food security impose certain policy options, “ he said, adding, “The Indian farmer has to be empowered with better prices, better policies, better access to finance, to technology, to infrastructure and to markets.”
Development deficit
Referring to continuing left-wing extremism, Dr. Singh said, “We will deal firmly with extremism but we also recognise that there is a development deficit in the areas affected by left-wing extremism and we are determined to address this deficit.”
Other leaders at the dinner included Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, and E. Ahamed of the Indian Union Muslim League. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad, though his party was not a constituent of the UPA, was also present, as were all the Congress State Chief Ministers, including newly elected Tarun Gogoi of Assam and Oommen Chandy of Kerala.
