Manmohan Singh asks people to help Congress return to power

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday spelt out the achievements of his government during the last ten years of his rule and asked people to once again repose faith on Congress.

"I have come here to appeal you to vote for the Congress. We have worked with dedication for the betterment of the minorities, and marginalized and hence United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was re-elected in 2009. In many sectors we did achieve success; however, there were other areas where more needs to be done. I feel blessed that you have given me the opportunity to serve the country for a record ten years as prime minister. I have also worked with the government in various other capacities and I have worked with honesty and hard-work throughout," Singh said.

"It is important to tell you the truth of what our government has done the good work all these years which is somehow getting subdued because of attacks from the opposition. I want to tell you the fact that though our economy has slowed down our country has showed resilience twice to tide over the international economic crisis" he added. Dr Manmohan Singh pointed out that the economy was on its way to recovery.

Prime minister also stated that when he looks back at the bygone decade, then he sees a marked change which makes him glad and stressed that the kind of change brought in this decade has been more than that was seen in any other decade.

"Between 2004-2011, we were able to decrease poverty three times faster. We have created new record in agriculture production and because of which we could bring food security act which will provide 80 crores people with cereals such as rice and wheat at a very nominal price. Our government has invested a lot more in education and health. We have almost attained a stage where every children has now access to primary education and an estimated 11 crores people are getting mid-day meal given by the government of India. At the same time higher educational institutions have increased and we have been able to double the number of those students who opted for higher education," Singh said.

"We have strengthened rural healthcare system and National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) works towards doing that. He also said that the nation was now free from polio, cases of malaria are decreasing, same with infact-mortality and maternal-mortality rates which were also going down.

He stressed on the fact the country witnessed creation of new airports and metro rail systems and that his government gave an impetus on the development of infrastructure in the north-eastern states," Singh added.