`We must manage our resources more prudently`

OPINION: Manmohan Singh

The Indian economy is on a growth trajectory which can keep it growing at 8-9 per cent. At this rate, we will be able to rid our nation of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease which has been the fate of millions of our countrymen for centuries. I am confident that we will be able to increase production and satisfy the growing demands of our people and generate more employment. Our government is committed to ensuring that our growth process is socially and regionally inclusive. We take pride in the fact that we have been able to increase public investment on social welfare programmes, in education, in health care, in irrigation and agricultural research, in infrastructure, including rural infrastructure.

 

The 11th Five-Year Plan has a special focus on education. I sincerely hope the initiatives we have taken in the field of education will unleash the creative potential of our people. We have increased investment in education with the twin objectives of widening access to education and promoting excellence. Special emphasis is being laid on education of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, minority communities and women.

I am also happy that during this year, we have universalised the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme by covering all rural districts of our country. This historic programme will make a major contribution to softening the harsh edges of extreme poverty in rural India. I urge all state governments to ensure effective and transparent implementation of the NREGP.

The UPA government has worked hard to make our growth process socially inclusive and regionally balanced. The north-eastern region, Jammu & Kashmir and other backward regions have received special attention, and will continue to do so. Taking the benefits of development to such areas is also the key to overcoming some of the challenges to internal security we face. We are firm in our resolve to strengthen panchayati raj institutions as a means of promoting accountability, decentralisation and equitable development.

Terrorist and other subversive elements have continued to cause concern on the internal security front. Their aim is to spread disaffection and distrust among our people. The people of India will never allow these elements to succeed. The UPA government has taken firm measures to improve the overall internal security situation and it will remain ever vigilant against any threats to the unity and integrity of our sacred Republic. We will not hesitate to take resolute and firm action against such forces wherever necessary and will work with state governments to counter these threats.

Our government has raised the global standing of our country in these past four years. Today, the world looks at India, and the enterprising people of India, with respect and admiration. By creating an environment in which the creativity and genius of the Indian people have been able to find freer expression, we have strengthened India's global standing. The external profile of our country has become more robust and this in turn has also contributed to an improvement in India's global standing. It has also enabled us to reach out to our neighbours and increase economic cooperation with the countries of South Asia, South-East Asia, the Indian Ocean Region and Africa. We welcome the new wave of democracy in our immediate neighbourhood and look forward to strengthening our bilateral relations with all our neighbours.

India today enjoys an enhanced profile in the international arena as a model of a stable, liberal, plural and secular democracy and a rapidly growing economy with the ability and capability to play a larger international role. However, there are great challenges ahead of us.

We cannot remain complacent in the fact that the past four years have been good years for our country. The steep rise in global petroleum and foodgrain prices pose difficult challenges. We must tighten our belts, manage our resources and finances more prudently, and work together to steer the ship of this great country through turbulent waters.

(Excerpts from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the dinner to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the government of the United Progressive Alliance, May 22, 2008 in New Delhi)