NEW DELHI, Aug 16:
In his maiden speech from Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday announced disbanding of Planning Commission, a socialist-era vestige, declared his intent to carry the Opposition along and called for a moratorium on caste and communal violence.
Less than three months after coming to power, he unveiled his ideas of development and boosting the economy, saying India should become a base for global manufacturing.
He came out with a scheme for financial inclusion of the poor by providing them with bank accounts with built-in insurance of Rs one lakh and announced an ‘MP Model Village Scheme’ under which each Member of Parliament will adopt one village every year and develop it.
In his 65-minute extempore speech in Hindi on the Independence Day, Modi asked maoists and terrorists to shun the path of violence and join the national mainstream.
He denounced the growing incidents of rape as well as the practice of female foeticide while hailing the role of girls.
The Prime Minister stressed on eliminating the problem of open defecation by providing toilets, including in schools, in which corporates would be involved.
Outlining his economic agenda, he said the Planning Commission, a 64-year-old Soviet style body, will be replaced with a new institution keeping in view the changed economic situation internally and globally.
“If we have to take India forward, then States will have to be taken forward. The importance of federal structure is more today than it was in last 60 years…We will very soon set up a new institution in place of Planning Commission,” he said.
Talking about putting in place a new structure soon, Modi said it will bring in creativity besides fresh ideas, thinking and hopes by utilising to the optimum level public-private partnership and youth power.
Under the financial inclusion scheme named ‘Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana’, Modi said poor families will be given a bank account, a debite card and an insurance cover of Rs one lakh.
The Prime Minister declared that he would like to run the country on the basis of consensus and not on majority in Parliament.
Speaking from the podium without the usual bullet proof shield, Modi asserted that he was speaking not as the Prime Minister but as “prime servant”.
He made a special mention of the services rendered by his predecessors and former Governments for the country’s development.
Seeking the cooperation of all political parties and pledging to take their help, he referred to the Parliament session that concluded yesterday, saying “it was a reflection of our thinking and intention to move forward not on the basis of majority but on the basis of strong foundation of consensus.
“You must have seen that by taking all parties, including Opposition, along we achieved unprecedented success. The credit for it does not go just to the Prime Minister or the Government but also to Opposition, its leaders and each of its MPs. I salute all MPs and leaders of parties with whose help we ended this first session with success.”
In an apparent reference to recent incidents in some parts of the country, the Prime Minister said communalism and castism are an obstacle in the country’s progress.
“We see violence on the basis of religion and caste. How long? Who is benefiting? We have fought enough, killed enough.
If you look back, you will find that nobody has gained anything…. It took us to even partition.
“I appeal that for the sake of country’s progress, there should be a 10-year moratorium on violence, at least for once, so that we are free from these ills. We should have peace, unity and harmony. Please believe my word, if we give up the path of violence and adopt the path of brotherhood, we will make progress,” he said.
Referring to terrorism and naxalism, Modi again wondered how long the violence would continue. “You will get nothing,” he told the misguided youth.
He cited the example of Nepal where Maoists have shunned the path of violence after a decade-long armed struggle and joined the political mainstream and nation-building.
“They (maoists) have given up arms and are now waiting for a new Constitution. It is an example of inspiration for the misguided youth.. It is high time that misguided youth renounce violence and take the path of peace,” said Modi who recently visited Nepal.
Expressing serious concern over rape incidents, he said, “our heads hang in shame when we hear about such incidents” and attacked politicians who become “psychologists” by trying to “analyse” reasons for the crime.
“In every home, parents ask daughters many questions as to where she is going and what she is doing. But do they ask the same thing to their sons? Rapists are also somebody’s sons. He also has parents. If only restrictions are also put on sons, there will be no rapists, no maoists and no terrorists.
“Law will do its work but the society has also to contribute,” he said, adding it is the social duty of parents.
Modi said every terrorist and maoist is somebody’s son who is bent on spilling blood.
“Instead of carrying a gun on his shoulder and make the land red, they (maoists and terrorists) should carry a plough and make the land green,” he said.
He also expressed concern over the skewed sex ratio and deplored the practice of foeticide and the attitude of doctors to make money by doing so.
Calling himself an “outsider” to Delhi, the former Gujarat Chief Minister said in two months of coming to power, he has got an “insider view” in the functioning of the Government.
Making it clear that his comments should be not be seen from a political prism, Modi said he was “surprised” to see that “within a Government, there were dozens of Governments.”
“People used to consider departments as their personal fiefdom. I saw there was disintegration and fights between departments. These fights landed up in the Supreme Court. How can you go forward in this situation?
“I have started demolishing these walls to ensure that the Government is one entity. The Government has to move with one idea, one direction and one view,” he said.
Modi announced a series of initiatives aimed at empowering the common man, and unleashing the potential of India’s youth.
He said a nationwide “Skill India” movement will be initiated to provide skills which ensure employability.
The Prime Minister spoke of his vision “Come and Make in India” inviting manufacturers from across the world to invest here and help boost industrial growth.
He called upon the youth of India to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit and work towards manufacturing in India, the various items that add to our import bill. “Let
‘Made in India’ become a synonym of excellence,” he added.
Emphasising that digital infrastructure is a priority to empower citizens, Modi announced his Government’s resolve to work towards ‘Digital India’, which would provide information and services to the people in a timely and effective manner.
Stressing on the need for cleanliness, the Prime Minister declared the Government’s resolve for “Swachh Bharat” (clean India)– a scheme which will be launched on October 2 this year, to be accomplished by 2019, on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
In a related initiative, the Prime Minister said the first step towards “Swachh Bharat” begins with immediate effect, through a commitment to build toilets in all schools, including separate toilets for girls, within one year.
The Prime Minister announced the launch of the ‘Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana’, under which each MP would be invited to make one model village in his constituency, by 2016.
A complete blueprint for this scheme would be announced on October 11, the birth anniversary of’ Jayaprakash Narayan, he said.
Modi gave a clarion call to all neighbouring and SAARC countries to work “shoulder-to-shoulder” to remove poverty from the region, leaving behind the world of death and killings.
Modi said he wants India to emerge stronger as a country so that it can contribute significantly to the betterment of the world.
Identifying poverty as a common challenge for all SAARC countries, he said the member countries must wage a war against it to improve the lives of their people.
“India will extend full cooperation to SAARC and also seek the same from it to wage war against poverty,” Modi said.
“Why can’t the SAARC friends jointly come up with a policy to fight poverty? We should fight together and defeat it. Let us try it once leaving behind the world of death and killings (marna-maarna) and feel the joy of life”.
He said he strength of the saviour is much more than the strength of the person who kills. “Lets unite to fight poverty”.
Recalling the the freedom struggle, the Prime Minister said the same zeal should be adopted in dealing effectively with the challenge of poverty.
“We should fight like we did for independence. We fought together. We were not separated then. Which Government was with us? What kind of weapons did we have? There was one Gandhi, one Sardar and lakhs of independent fighters,” he said.
Modi stressed that despite all the inadequacies, “such a big empire” was defeated and foreign powers were forced to leave the country.
Modi said that there are many facets to a foreign policy but he wants to concentrate on cooperation between SAARC countries against poverty.
He said together the SAARC countries can create its own stature in the world and emerge as a “power”.
He recalled his visit to Bhutan and Nepal and said that the coming of SAARC leaders to his his swearing-in ceremony was an auspicious start for dealing with the challenges unitedly.
“And hence, good results will come out for sure,” he said adding that he wants an India to contribute to the betterment of the world.
“I will try hard to fulfil these dreams,” Modi said in his maiden address from the ramparts of Red Fort.
Meanwhile, the 64-year-old Planning Commission, a vestige of the socialist era, will soon become history.
Commission, was set up in 1950 at a time when Government gave public sector the commanding heights of economy it would be abolished and replaced with a more relevant institution.
Greatly impressed by the Soviet planning system, the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had set up the Planning Commission to steer the nation’s economic destiny.
Set up by a Cabinet Resolution, the Commission enjoyed immense power and prestige as it had always been headed by the Prime Minister. Its most important function was to fix targets for sectoral growth and allocate resources to achieve them.
The Deputy Chairman of the Commission has often been a political stalwart holding the rank of a Cabinet Minister. The stalwarts who had been the deputy chief of the panel included Gulzarilal Nanda, V T Krishnamachari, C Subramaniam, P N Haksar, Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, K C Pant, Jaswant Singh, Madhu Dandavate, Mohan Dharia and R K Hegde. The last deputy chairman was Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
The Soviet-era style planning body, however, lost its relevance after the opening of the economy in the 90s. With the dismantling of the licence raj, it functioned only as an advisory body without any effective power.
The Commission was set up by Nehru with the explicit objective to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of the people by efficient exploitation of the resources of the country, increasing production and offering opportunities to all for employment in the service of the community.
It was charged with the responsibility of making assessment of all resources of the country, augmenting deficient resources, formulating plans for the most effective and balanced utilisation of resources and determining priorities.
The Commission’s working in recent years was often criticised by the Chief Ministers who resented being called by Deputy Chairman every year for approval of their State plans.
“We have come to Delhi just to be told by the Commission how we should spend our own money,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had said in 2012 after a meeting with the then Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Welcoming Modi’s decision to do away with the plan panel, former Planning Commission member Bimal Jalan said: “It is very good idea. Planning has become outdated concept now.
There is a need to modernise it. We have to see the blueprint of the new concept. But change was very much required.”
Expressing similar opinion, another former Commission member Abhijit Sen said Modi has cleared the air about the future of the Commission.
“Yesterday there were news about appointment of deputy chairman. It is not still clear what would be the structure of new body. But the Planning Commission will not be the Planning Commission it was,” he added.
Describing the Commission a “hangover from the Soviet era” former Cabinet Minister Subramaniam Swamy tweeted, “in 1972 wrote that Planning Commission needs to be restructured as a Finance Commission.”
Industry chamber CII too welcomed the decision and said: “We would be happy to work closely with Government to offer ideas on the outline of a new development and implementation institution.”
India had launched the first Five-year Plan in 1951 and two subsequent five-year plans were formulated till 1965, when there was a break because of the Indo-Pakistan Conflict.
Two successive years of drought, devaluation of the currency, a general rise in prices and erosion of resources disrupted the planning process and after three Annual Plans between 1966 and 1969, the fourth Five-year plan was started in 1969.
The Eighth Plan could not take off in 1990 due to the fast changing political situation at the Centre and the years 1990-91 and 1991-92 were treated as Annual Plans. The Eighth Plan was finally launched in 1992 after the initiation of structural adjustment policies.
For the first eight Plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, the emphasis on the public sector has become less pronounced and the current thinking on planning in the country, in general, is that it should increasingly be of an indicative nature.
Currently, the 12th Five-year-plan is on and will end in March 2017. (PTI)
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