Take lead in Bharat Nirman, Manmohan tells India Inc

It is in this context that he said it was ‘‘up to the captains of industry and leaders of enterprise to understand the true potential of Bharat Nirman and participate in it’’. According to Manmohan, ‘‘The growth of rural India will grow Indian business and business in turn can fuel rural growth.’’ This was, therefore, ‘‘a situation of mutual advantage’’, he said.

Bharat Nirman was conceived as a four year time-bound business plan for achieving identified goals in six selected areas of rural infrastructure, i.e. irrigation, rural water supply, rural housing, rural roads, rural telephony and rural electrification. It was launched in the last budget as the flagship programme of this government.

Describing the importance of this flagship programme, Manmohan said that ‘‘the economic and social development in our rural areas is going to be one of the world’s biggest growth stories in the coming decade’’. He added, ‘‘Bharat Nirman will act to accelerate this process of reducing the gap between Bharat and India and make our rural consumers and rural producers an integral part of the processes of wealth creation and wealth distribution.’’

While admitting that the agenda of infrastructure under this programme was not new, he said that what Bharat Nirman sought to do was to ‘‘impart a sense of urgency to the implementation of these programmes, within a specified time frame, and in a business-like manner’’. The PM felt that the private sector’s initiative and imagination would ‘‘accelerate the growth of Bharat Nirman’’.

As for delivery, Manmohan said the panchayats would play a major role in the creation and management of rural assets. The Planning Commission was working on ways to enhance the management of rural infrastructure programmes by panchayats. He added, ‘‘State governments and local bodies are critical for the effective programme delivery.’’