Prez clicks start Budget Session

The Budget Session kicked off today with the President addressing the joint Houses of Parliament. Promising a ‘‘new deal to rural ...

The Budget Session kicked off today with the President addressing the joint Houses of Parliament. Promising a ‘‘new deal to rural India’’, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said the economy is poised to grow at 7 pc this year.

Abandoning the tradition of relying on printed text, Kalam read his speech from a computer. The new deal, he explained, involves ‘‘reversing the declining trend in investment in agriculture, stepping up credit to farmers, enhancing public investment in irrigation and wasteland development, increasing funds for agricultural research and extension and creating a single market for agricultural produce.”

The address took a dig at the previous NDA regime by drawing on its Lok Sabha poll slogan — India Shining — to stress that unless people in rural India prosper, India can not progress. ‘‘My Government wants India to shine, but it must shine for all,’’ the President said.

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He said the new budget will unveil a major plan — Bharat Nirman — to build an infrastructure of roads, housing, irrigation, water supply, electricity and telecommunications in rural areas. A Rural Electrification Strategy has been drawn up and a new scheme to promote micro irrigation, a National Horticulture Mission and a National Rural Health Mission are all on the anvil, he added.

Turning to urban India, he said the government will launch a Mission on Urban Renewal and will encourage public-private partnership.

He also said a white paper would be prepared on the status of minorities. The 15-point programme for their welfare will be recast. Kalam invoked the writer Prem Chand to project the government’s concept of aam admi. The members cheered as Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat wound up the proceedings by reading some excerpts of the speech in Hindi.

For Kolkata, the IMD has forecast mostly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain or thundershowers on most days through Panchami.

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