New Delhi, January 25
Paying glowing tributes to security personnel who averted the terrorist attack on Parliament House on December 13, President K.R. Narayanan said today that it was necessary for the private sector to adopt social policies that were progressive and more egalitarian for the uplift of the deprived classes from deprivation and inequality “in the present economic system and of the future.”

“This is not to ask the private enterprise to accept socialism, but to do something like what the Diversity Bill and the affirmative action that a capitalist country like the USA has adopted and is implementing,” Mr Narayanan said, highlighting the need for the uplift of the Dalits and tribesmen from their present state of deprivation.

The President, addressing the nation on the eve of Republic Day, commended the recently-held conference in Bhopal of Dalits and tribal intellectuals, saying that it charted out a new course for Dalits and the tribal people for the 21st century.

Paying homage to the security personnel, the President said: "Let us on this occasion remember and pay our homage to those security men of our Parliament, who by their vigilance, courage and timely action at the cost of their lives averted the terrorist attack to destroy our Parliament House, the temple of Indian democracy and the symbol of our sovereignty.

Mr Narayanan said it was a coincidence that December 13 was the day when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1946 moved in the Constituent Assembly the Objectives Resolution declaring the resolve of India to become an independent sovereign republic and outlining the democratic, secular and social fundamentals of the Constitution that India was to have.

“It is significant that it is the extraordinary courage and heroism of the ordinary security personnel at the Parliament House that saved the seat of our democracy against the dastardly terrorist attack,” he pointed out.

The President said while the country may rejoice in the success of the security personnel, “let us remember that our safety and security is dependent on our common people like them, and it is for their interests and welfare that we should work from our imposing Parliament House and Government buildings.”

Significantly, the President did not refer to issues like security and the current Indo-Pak tensions.

Mr Narayanan said the problem of women in India was symbolic of the inequalities and injustices in society in general.

“Even today, it is amazing that we have not become an inclusive society in spite of the political triumph of our democracy. The discrimination being suffered by women, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is a crying denial of the democracy that is enshrined in our Constitution,” he said.

Mr Narayanan said one of the clearest indicators of the development of a society was the position and status women enjoy in that society.

“Even though women’s rights are recognised as human rights and they are considered as best of human resources and central acts for development, their standing in our society is deplorable,” he said.

He included women’s uplift in his Constructive Programme as an important point.

Stating that 2001 was observed as year of women’s empowerment, the President said several important measures had been taken to elevate women from their present status.

“It is uplifting to see ordinary and poor women actively participating in movements and campaigns for constructive action such as the right to information, river revival programmes and rainwater harvesting and watershed management schemes,” he said.

The President said the election of almost one million women to Panchayati Raj institutions and their activities in such bodies had brought about a strategic shift in many developmental activities at the grassroots level.

Condemning the dowry system responsible for snuffing out lives of women at a very young age, Mr Narayanan said it was also responsible for the growing incidence of female foeticide in the country.

“Incidences of rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment at workplaces and trafficking of women have increased manifold. Half the number of women killed in India are killed in their bedrooms. A rise in cases of sexual harassment by 40 per cent, dowry deaths by 15.2 per cent and smuggling of girls by 87.2 per cent in 1998 are indicative of their traumatised existence. No place is safe for them, not even in their mothers’ wombs. They are put to death even before they are born,” he said.

Quoting Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s poem, “In every panchayat Draupadi is robbed of her honour” he said: “She is today not only dishonoured in panchayats but also in city transport buses, in city streets and even in her own homes. It is high time we got rid of this inequality and indignity to women in our country. The success of women’s movements at the grassroots level in India shows that it is possible for us to do so.”

Stressing the need for proper development of children, the President said: “The future of India will depend on the development of this human wealth. It indeed depends on the health and welfare of our children.”

“India has the largest Integrated Child Development Programme in the world for extending nutrition, health and educational facilities to the children of our country. We have adopted the Pulse Polio Programme that now covers the entire country. Mass immunisation programmes have achieved remarkable results. If all these programmes, together with children’s education, are implemented, we can look forward to a bright future for our children and our country. A poet has said the cry of a child by the roadside mars the harmony of the universe,” he said.

Mr Narayanan touched upon issues ranging from building up of democracy and a stable system of government for the country to the “real decline in illiteracy in absolute numbers” and the doubling of life expectancy.

The President said it had been acknowledged that the greatest achievement of India since Independence had been the building up of democracy and a stable system of government.

“But what has not been fully realised by the world and even by ourselves is the magnitude of this achievement in a population of one billion people, belonging to almost all religions of the world and with diversities of every kind that is imaginable. It was not by force and compulsion, by blood and iron, that this achievement has been brought about, but by peaceful means, by tolerance and willing acceptance of differences and diversities,” he said.

Appreciating the recent Bill making education a fundamental right for children between 6 and 14 years as “a great step forward”, he said there was a need for extending the facility of free and compulsory education to the entire age group up to 18 years so that illiteracy was banished from the land.