|
PM's Independence
Day Speech, 2010
August 15, 2010
New Delhi
Dear citizens,
1. I greet you on the 63rd anniversary of our independence. When
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the Tricolour on this historic Red
Fort, on 15th August, 1947, he called himself the first servant of
India. I address you today in the same spirit of service.
2. A few days back, many precious lives were lost in Laddakh due to
a cloud burst. I convey my heart felt condolences to the family
members and other near and dear ones of those who have perished. In
this hour of grief, the whole country stands with the people of
Laddakh. It is my assurance that the Central Government will do
everything possible for rehabilitation of the affected people.
3. When I addressed you last year on Independence Day, our country
was facing a number of difficulties. There was a drought like
situation in many parts of the country. We were also affected by the
global economic slow down. I am happy to say that we have acquitted
ourselves well in these difficult circumstances. Despite many
problems, the rate of our economic growth has been better than most
other countries in the world. This shows the strength of our
economy.
4. This strength has been evident not only in the last one year but
also in our economic progress in the last many years. Today, India
stands among the fastest growing economies of the world. As the
world's largest democracy, we have become an example for many other
countries to emulate. Our citizens have the right to make their
voice heard. Our country is viewed with respect all over the world.
Our views command attention in international fora.
5. All of you have contributed to India's success. The hard work of
our workers, our artisans, our farmers has brought our country to
where it stands today. I specially salute our soldiers whose bravery
ensures the safety of our borders. I pay tribute to all those
martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for our country.
6. We are building a new India in which every citizen would have a
stake, an India which would be prosperous and in which all citizens
would be able to live a life of honour and dignity in an environment
of peace and goodwill. An India in which all problems could be
solved through democratic means. An India in which the basic rights
of every citizen would be protected. In the last few years, we have
taken many significant steps in this direction. Every person living
in rural areas now has the assurance of 100 days of employment
through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The Right to Information Act is helping our citizens to become more
aware. This year our Government has enacted the Right to Education
which will help every Indian to share in the benefits of the
country's economic progress and also to contribute to it. To ensure
equal partnership of women in our progress, we have taken initiative
for reservation for women in Parliament and in State legislatures.
Apart from this, reservation for women has been increased to 50 per
cent in local bodies.
7. Despite our many strengths, we face some serious challenges. We
should resolve today that we will meet these challenges as one
people. Our society often gets divided in the name of religion,
State, caste or language. We should resolve that we will not allow
divisions in our society under any circumstance. Tolerance and
generosity have been a part of our traditions. We should strengthen
these traditions. As we progress economically our society should
also become more sensitive. We should be modern and progressive in
our outlook.
8. Our Government has laid special emphasis on the welfare of our
farmers and on increasing agricultural production. After we came to
power in 2004, we realized that the state of Indian agriculture in
the preceding 7-8 years was not satisfactory. Our Government
increased public investment in agriculture. We started new schemes
for increasing production. We encouraged agricultural planning at
the district level. I am happy that the growth rate of our
agriculture has increased substantially in the last few years. But
we are still far from achieving our goal. We need to work harder so
that we can increase the agricultural growth rate to 4 per cent per
annum.
9. Our Government wants a food safety net in which no citizen of
ours would go hungry. This requires enhanced agricultural production
which is possible only by increasing productivity. Our country has
not witnessed any big technological breakthrough in agriculture
after the Green Revolution. We need technology which would address
the needs of dry land agriculture. In addition, our agriculture
should also be able to deal with new challenges like climate change,
falling levels of ground water and deteriorating quality of soil. In
the history of Indian agriculture, Norman Borlaug commands a special
place. About 40 to 50 years back he developed new and more
productive seeds of wheat. Under the leadership of Smt. Indira
Gandhiji, India achieved the Green Revolution by adopting these
seeds. I am happy to announce that the Borlaug Institute of South
Asia is being established in India. This institute would facilitate
availability of new and improved seeds and new technology to the
farmers of India and other countries of South Asia.
10. We have always taken care to provide remunerative prices to
farmers so that they are encouraged to increase production. Support
prices have been increased every year in the last six years. The
support price for wheat was enhanced to Rs.1,100 per quintal last
year from Rs.630 per quintal in 2003-04. In paddy, this increase was
from Rs.550 per quintal to Rs.1,000 per quintal. But one effect of
providing higher prices to farmers is that food prices in the open
market also increase.
11. I know that in the last few months high inflation has caused you
difficulties. It is the poor who are the worst affected by rising
prices, especially when the prices of commodities of every day use
like foodgrains, pulses, vegetables increase. It is for this reason
that we have endeavored to minimize the burden of increased prices
on the poor. Today, I do not want to go into the detailed reasons
for high inflation. But, I would certainly like to say that we are
making every possible effort to tackle this problem. I am also
confident that we will succeed in these efforts.
12. It is obvious that any person or institution cannot spend more
than his income over a long period of time, even if it is the
Government. It is our responsibility that we manage our economy with
prudence so that our development is not affected adversely in the
future because of high debt. We import about 80 per cent of our
requirement of petroleum products. After 2004, we have increased the
prices of petroleum products much less compared to the increase in
the price of crude oil in the international market. The subsidy on
petroleum products has been increasing every year. It had become
necessary therefore to increase the prices of petroleum products. If
this had not been done, it would not have been possible for our
budget to bear the burden of subsidy and our programmes for
education, health and employment of the poor would have been
adversely affected.
13. In the 63 years after independence, India has covered a long
distance on the path of development. But our destination is still
far away. A large part of our population still suffers from
persistent poverty, hunger and disease. When our Government came to
power in 2004, we resolved to build a new India under a progressive
social agenda. We wanted the fruits of development to reach the
common man. We initiated programmes especially targeted to the
welfare of the socially and economically backward sections of our
society. We still stand committed to the welfare of the poor, the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, minorities, women and other
backward sections of our society. But today we do not need many new
programmes to achieve our goals. However, we do need to implement
the schemes we have already started more effectively, minimizing the
chances of corruption and misuse of public money. We want to achieve
this in partnership with the State Governments, Panchayat Raj
Institutions and civil society groups.
14. Secularism is one of the pillars of our democracy. It has been
the tradition of our country and society to treat all religions with
equal respect. For centuries India has welcomed new religions and
all have flourished here. Secularism is also our constitutional
obligation. Our Government is committed to maintain communal peace
and harmony. We also consider it our duty to protect the minorities
and provide for their special needs. This is why we have started
many new programmes in the last four years for the welfare of our
brothers and sisters belonging to the minority communities. These
include scholarships for minority students and special programmes
for the development of districts which have a high concentration of
minorities. These schemes have shown good results. We will
vigorously take this work forward.
15. We have been giving special attention to education and health in
the last six years. Improvement in these two areas is an important
component of our strategy for inclusive growth. It is also necessary
for higher economic growth in the years to come. After independence,
these two areas could not get the importance they deserved. We tried
to change this state of affairs in the 11th Plan. Today, almost
every child in our country has access to primary education. Now, we
need to pay more attention to secondary and higher education. We
also need to improve the quality of education at all levels. It is
our endeavour that every child, irrespective of whether he is rich
or poor and which section of the society he belongs to, should be
given an education that enables him to realize his potential and
makes him a responsible citizen of our country. We will continue to
implement the new schemes that we have started in the last six years
in the areas of education and health with sincerity and hard work
and in partnership with the State Governments. We will soon bring a
Bill to Parliament for constitution of two separate councils in
higher education and health respectively so that reforms in these
two areas can be accelerated.
16. Nutritious food and good health services are necessary but not
enough for ensuring good health of our citizens. We also need
cleanliness and good sanitation in our villages, towns and cities.
There are many diseases which would be difficult to prevent
otherwise. The truth is that our country lags behind in this area. I
consider it a primary responsibility of all our citizens to maintain
cleanliness and hygiene around them. I would like our children to be
taught the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in schools from the
very beginning under a campaign for a Clean India. I appeal to the
State Governments, Panchayat Raj Institutions, civil society groups
and common citizens to make this campaign successful.
17. Mahatma Gandhi had said that our earth has enough for everyone's
need but not for everyone's greed. Imprudent use of the earth's
natural resources has resulted in the problem of climate change. We
need to use our natural resources with care and prudence. It is our
responsibility towards the coming generations to protect and
preserve our forests, rivers and mountains. Our government will
endeavour to take care of environmental concerns in our projects for
economic development.
18. There is a large deficit in our physical infrastructure which
affects our economic development adversely. There is a shortfall in
the supply of electricity to industries. Our roads, ports and
airports are not of world standards. We have been trying to increase
electricity production and improve our roads, ports and airports.
The resources required to create good physical infrastructure are
difficult for the Government alone to mobilize. Therefore, we have
endeavoured to involve the private sector in our efforts. The steps
that we have taken after 2004 to improve our physical infrastructure
have started bearing fruit now. About one and half a months back, I
dedicated a new terminal of the Delhi airport to the nation. This is
an excellent terminal which has been completed in record time. We
will continue to make such efforts to improve our physical
infrastructure.
19. There has been much discussion recently on the issue of internal
security. If law and order in any part of India deteriorates or
peace and harmony gets disturbed, the common man is adversely
affected. Therefore, it is one of the primary responsibilities of
any government to maintain law and order so that the citizens can
live and earn their livelihood in an atmosphere of peace and
harmony. Naxalism is a serious challenge to our internal security. I
pay tribute to the men and officers of our security forces who have
became martyrs in the attacks by naxalites in the last few months. I
have stated this before and I say it again - our Government will
fully discharge its responsibility to protect each and every citizen
of our country. We will deal firmly with those who resort to
violence. We will provide all possible help to State Governments to
maintain the rule of law in areas affected by naxalism. I once again
appeal to naxalites to abjure violence, come for talks with the
Government and join hands with us to accelerate social and economic
development. A few days back I took a meeting with the Chief
Ministers of States affected by naxalism. We will fully implement
the consensus that emerged in that meeting. I would like to repeat
here a point that I made in that meeting. It is imperative that
Centre and States work together to meet the challenge of naxalism.
It would be very difficult for any State to tackle this problem
without cooperation from the Centre and coordination between States.
We all need to rise above our personal and political interests to
meet this challenge.
20. As I have stated earlier, most naxalite affected areas lag
behind in development. Many such areas also have a large
concentration of our adivasi brothers and sisters. We want to end
the neglect of these areas. I have asked the Planning Commission to
formulate a comprehensive scheme towards this end, which we would
implement fully. It is also our endeavour that our adivasi brothers
and sisters join the mainstream of development. They have been
dependent on forest produce for centuries and this dependence should
not end without the creation of new sources of livelihood. Apart
from adequate compensation for land which is acquired from them, we
should also ensure that our adivasi brothers and sisters have a
stake in the developmental project being undertaken.
21. I would like to state one more thing in this context. It is very
necessary to make the administrative machinery more sensitive in
areas affected by naxalism. The government officials who work there
should not only be sincere but should also be alive to the special
needs of our adivasi brothers and sisters. It is my hope that the
State Governments will pay adequate attention to these requirements.
22. We have a special responsibility towards the States of the North
East. We are trying to live up to that responsibility. The North
Eastern part of our country has been witness to some unpleasant
incidents in the recent months. I would like to convey to all
political parties and groups of the North East that disputes in the
name of State or tribe can only harm all of us. Discussion and
dialogue are the only options to resolve complex issues. As far as
the Central Government is concerned, we are ready to take forward
every process of talks which could lead to progress in resolution of
problems.
23. In Jammu and Kashmir, we are ready to talk to every person or
group which abjures violence. Kashmir is an integral part of India.
Within this framework, we are ready to move forward in any talks
which would increase the partnership of the common man in governance
and also enhance their welfare. Recently, some young men have lost
their lives in violence in Jammu and Kashmir. We deeply regret this.
The years of violence should now end. Such violence would not
benefit anyone. I believe that India's democracy has the generosity
and flexibility to be able to address the concerns of any area or
group in the country. I recently participated in a meeting with
political parties from Jammu and Kashmir. We will endeavour to take
this process forward. I would like to convey to our countrymen,
especially our citizens in Jammu and Kashmir and in the North East,
that they should adopt democratic means to join hands with us for
their and country's welfare.
24. We want prosperity, peace and harmony in our neighbouring
countries. Whatever differences we have with our neighbouring
countries, we want to resolve them through discussions. As far as
Pakistan is concerned, we expect from them that they would not let
their territory be used for acts of terrorism against India. We have
been emphasizing this in all our discussions with the Pakistan
Government. If this is not done, we cannot progress far in our
dialogue with Pakistan.
25. I would also like to say something which is related to our
glorious cultural traditions. The use of harsh and unpleasant words
in our political discourse has increased in recent days. This is
against our traditions of generosity, humility and tolerance.
Criticism has a place of its own in a democracy and in a progressive
society. However, criticism should not be undignified. We should
have the capacity to reconcile opposite points of view on important
issues through debate and discussion. I would request all political
parties to consider this issue.
26. The Commonwealth Games will start in Delhi after about one and a
half months. This will be a proud moment for the whole country and
especially for Delhi. I am convinced that all our countrymen will
treat the Games as a national festival and will leave no stone
unturned to make them a success. The successful organization of
Commonwealth Games would be another signal to the world that India
is rapidly marching ahead with confidence.
27. Our future is bright. The day when our dreams will come true is
not far off. Let us all resolve on this anniversary of our
independence that we will keep the flag of our nation flying high.
Let us march ahead together on the path of progress and prosperity.
28. Dear children, please say Jai Hind with me.
'JAI HIND'
'JAI HIND'
'JAI HIND' |
