Reforms on, expect more, PM tells industry

Inaugurating the CII’s annual session at Vigyan Bhavan here this morning, the Prime Minister said, “Let me assure you that, even as a `caretaker’ Government, it will be my unflinching endeavour to take care of the needs of the economy. We shall not allow the normal affairs of Government to slacken”.

Obviously in election mode, Vajpayee said that “The country has journeyed through a period of avoidable and unnecessary turmoil in the past few weeks. Irresponsible and unprincipled politics has played tricks with the people’s mandate. The cynical game of numbers has scored over the basic norms of democracy.

“…I would not have minded,” he said, “if those who wanted our Government to go were able to put together a stable, viable alternative”.

Saying that it was not for him to “give a scorecard of what our Government has done in the past thirteen months before the game was interrupted — or shall I say disrupted,” Vajpayee added that his Government did make mistakes in the beginning but that it kept learning as it went along and that results had begun showing especially after this year’s Budget.

He cited initiatives by his Government to give an impetus to agriculture, infrastructure, the financial sector, foreign investment, export, telecom, and information technology.

He pointed out that his Government has been standing firm in the wake of attempts to “browbeat” it in the aftermath of the nuclear tests.

Insisting continuity and implying that his Government would be back in power, Vajpayee urged industry not to “get too obsessed with the current intermission”.

On the second-generation reforms, Vajpayee pointed to five thrust areas: Elimination of red tape; rapidly taking the benefits of reform to neglected vital areas such as agriculture, agro-processing, small-scale industries and the unorganised sector; fashioning an “appropriate strategy” in relation to the World Trade Organisation; business fulfilling its social obligations; and a focus on the development of knowledge-based industries.

Vajpayee concluded his speech by saying: “Friends, India is on the move. No longer will our people tolerate a movement marked by one step forward, two steps back. Our youth, especially, are hungry for progress, which is their legitimate due. To help achieve it is the common duty of the Government and the business community. Today, I reiterate my commitment to continue this duty — with the same sincerity that my Government showed in the past thirteen months.”