New Delhi, January 25
Asserting that peace is a paramount ingredient for continuing the mission of national development and economic growth, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam tonight said India will always be grateful to the “successful peacemakers”.

Addressing the nation on the eve of the 55th Republic Day, Dr Kalam also virtually set the agenda for the Lok Sabha poll by asking all political parties to clearly state in their manifesto their vision, action plan and approaches for making India a developed nation by 2020.

“Most nations have realised that low intensity proxy wars, deterrence-based buildups and real wars are too expensive detractors from the perceived visions of development,” Dr Kalam said, adding “the country will be grateful to successful peacemakers”.

Stating that the development of the society also weans away its people from destructive activities or alienation, leading to celebration on peace-makers, the President recited the poem “When guns are silent, Flowers blossom on the earth; Fragrance engulfs good souls, who created beautiful silence.”

Stating that we should build a developed India in a time-bound way to prevent instability in society, Dr Kalam desired that the manifestoes of political parties take into account the aspirations of the youth and design them to meet the dream of the young and be resonant with their aspirations with identified missions and action plan.

Referring to the economic scenario in the country, the President said the benefits of a “very robust and consistent” economic growth must reach speedily the rural population and called for “proactive” interest rates from banks to stimulate growth of small, medium scale and agro-food processing industries.

“The time has come for these economic benefits to reach speedily the rural population through development programmes such as PURA — Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas — and Interlinking of rivers,” Dr Kalam said.

The combination of entrepreneurship education in schools and colleges, the hassle-free flow of venture capital and evolution of good market will give additional momentum for national growth, he said.