Turning to violence in North-Eastern states, the Prime Minister said a comprehensive peace process which had begun in the region would bear the desired results soon.

He dealt at length on the emerging economy of the country and pointed out that poverty and illiteracy were on their way out.

Linkages to the global economy had led to a slowdown in the Indian economy at present but there was no need to be worried about this temporary phenomenon, Mr Vajpayee tried to assure. He said the fundamental indicators of the economy were quite strong.

Prices were stable, inflation under control, foreign exchange reserves at a record high, and, godowns bursting with foodgrains.

Drawing inspiration from a favourable weather, Mr Vajpayee said: “Because of good monsoon, there are bright prospects of the coming crops on the economic front. Yesterday’s heavy rainfall had cast doubts that the morning today will be full of dark clouds and the earth will be soaked with the rain showers. But, this did not happen. Clouds have dispersed and the sun has come out. We can now forge ahead towards future. Good monsoon has come with promising prospects on the economic front.”

Mr Vajpayee said with natural calamities like the Orissa cyclone, Gujarat quake, floods and famine continuing to plague various parts of the country, the government would put in place a permanent and institutional structure to effectively deal with such natural calamities.

On the plunging financial and capital markets and other setbacks suffered in the new economy, the Prime Minister said the functioning of the stock markets and financial institutions would be reformed to protect the interests of small investors.

He reiterated the government’s resolve to fight corruption in the country and added that it would not discriminate in any way in putting to trial any person, however, big or powerful he might be. In this regard, he said the Lokpal Bill which was introduced in the Lok Sabha yesterday would bring the Prime Minister in its ambit.

At the same time, he stated that there was a need to refrain from giving baseless allegations the colour of a scandal.

The Prime Minister while pointing out that the fruits of the new economic policy had not percolated to the rural areas, unfolded a slew of measures which were intended to give a new pro-poor, pro-village, and pro-employment orientation to the economic policy.

He said the Central Government would launch an ambitious new scheme of Rs 10,000 crore to provide additional and guaranteed employment in the rural areas. This centrally sponsored scheme would be called “Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana”. Under this scheme, those who took employment from panchayats to build durable rural assets would be paid wages in cash and in foodgrains. For this, 50 lakh tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 5,000 crore would be provided to state governments every year. All existing employment schemes of the Central Government would be merged with this mega-scheme. Nearly 100 crore mandays of employment were expected to be generated through the `Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana’.

He said some kind of institutional measures would be taken to make resources available to the unorganised businesses and industries. This sector constituted two-thirds of the economy and the loan repayment record of this sector was better than that of big industries, Mr Vajpayee said.

It was announced that in order to devolve the necessary powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions and to empower them financially and administratively in an adequate manner, the government would soon initiate a national debate to achieve this important objective, involving over 30 lakh elected representatives in Panchayati Raj institutions.

“We would like the panchayats to fix their own priorities, prepare their own plans, and to implement them with the participation of the villagers. Towards this end, we shall devise new ways to enable Panchayati Raj institutions and non-governmental organisations engaged in rural developmental activities to avail loans from banks and other financial institutions for specific development projects” he said.

A national nutrition mission to make available subsidised foodgrains to adolescent girls and expectant mothers, belonging to below the poverty line families and an “Ambedkar-Valmiki Malin Basti Awas Yojana” to construct houses for the urban poor, especially the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Backward Classes and other weaker sections, was also announced by the Prime Minister.

On the housing project he said the Ministry of Urban Development would give a yearly grant of Rs 1,000 crore to this project. HUDCO, which would implement this scheme, would make available another Rs 2,000 crore as a loan amount.

He said there was a shortage of three lakh housing units for the families of the jawans in the armed forces. At the present rate of housing construction, it would take 30 years for this shortage to end. It had been decided to build these three lakh housing units in the next four years.

He said the government had launched the ambitious ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’ and the ‘National Highways Development Project’ to provide all-weather road connectivity throughout the country. It was the government’s desire to not only link all villages of India with good roads but also with good telecom and internet services.

He mentioned the government’s resolve to strengthen the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, to unveil a national tourism policy before the end of this year, speedier disposal of litigations and health for all. As part of efforts to empower women it had been decided that over the next three years, all public-sector banks would lend 5 per cent of the net bank credit to women entrepreneurs. This would make Rs 17,000 crore of bank credit available for women-sponsored businesses.

He said the government would observe the coming year as the ‘Year of implementation’ to ensure that all the new initiatives taken by the government were implemented at the ground level.

The Prime Minister offered a piece of advice to the Opposition. “Political opposition is natural in a democracy, but there should be no opposition for the sake of opposition.”

The rain God’s benevolence could be counted on the sunny day that greeted the Prime Minister today. Yesterday’s rainfall and Met Department’s forecast had people worrying about the fate of today. The sunshine after the heavy downpour was seen as symbolic of the country’s dawn by the Prime Minister.

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Was the Prime Minister in a tearing hurry? He began his address even before the combined guard of honour for the National Flag took leave.

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