Cabinet Clears President'S Speech In Joint Session

The Union Cabinet yesterday cleared the President's speech to be addressed to the joint session of Parliament when the Budget session begins on February 23. The Cabinet took two-and-a-half hours to clear the speech.

Union Cabinet Minister Pramod Mahajan said the Constitution review mentioned in the President's speech was cleared by the Cabinet. This is significant because the President, in his personal capacity, had warned against any Constitution review, particularly attempts to tamper with its basic features. He had mentioned this in a joint sitting of Parliament in January.

The President's speech in the joint session is considered to represent the government's policy. The Cabinet meeting examined the speech clause-by-clause before finalising it. The speech is said to have three broad aspects on which the government's policies are enunciated_foreign affairs, security and economy.

The speech will take stock of the work already accomplished and specify steps proposed by the government. This will include Bills to be brought before the Parliament in the next financial year. The President's speech, being a statement of the government's intent, is debated and passed by the two Houses of Parliament.