PM's address from the ramparts of
the Red Fort on the occasion of
Independence Day 2012
Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh,
addressed the Nation from the
ramparts of the Red Fort today on the
occasion of Independence Day.
Following is the English rendering of
the Prime Minister’s speech.
“My dear countrymen, brothers,
sisters and dear children,
I greet you all on this anniversary of
our Independence.
“The leaders of our freedom
movement, under the stewardship of
Mahatma Gandhi, had dreamt of an
independent and prosperous India.
On this day in 1947, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru took the first step
towards the realization of that dream
by hoisting the Tricolour at the Red
Fort. The journey we began on 15
August, 1947 is now 65 years old. We
have achieved much in these 65
years.
Today is certainly a day to celebrate
the success of our democracy.
However, on this occasion we should
also introspect about what remains
to be done. We would achieve
independence in the true sense only
when we are able to banish poverty,
illiteracy, hunger and backwardness
from our country. This would be
possible only when we learn from our
failures and build on our successes.
You are aware that these days the
global economy is passing through a
difficult phase. The pace of economic
growth has come down in all
countries of the world. Seen
together, the European countries are
estimated to grow at 0 percent this
year. Our country has also been
affected by these adverse external
conditions. Also, there have been
domestic developments which are
hindering our economic growth. Last
year our GDP grew by 6.5 percent.
This year we hope to do a little
better.
We cannot do much about the
conditions that prevail outside our
country. But we must make every
effort to resolve the problems inside
our country so that our economic
growth and the creation of
employment opportunities in the
country are again speeded up.
While doing this, we must also
control inflation. This would pose
some difficulty because of a bad
monsoon this year. However, we have
taken many measures to deal with
the situation. In districts where there
has been a deficit of 50 percent or
more in the rainfall, diesel subsidy is
being provided to farmers by the
Government. Seed subsidy has been
enhanced. Funds available under the
Central scheme for fodder have been
increased. Our effort is to ensure that
people do not face difficulty due to
shortage of seeds, fodder or water in
any part of the country. It is good
that we have a big stock of
foodgrains because of the hard work
of our farmer brothers and sisters,
and availability of foodgrains is not a
problem for us.
As far as creating an environment
within the country for rapid economic
growth is concerned, I believe that we
are not being able to achieve this
because of a lack of political
consensus on many issues. Time has
now come to view the issues which
affect our development processes as
matters of national security.
If we do not increase the pace of the
country’s economic growth, take
steps to encourage new investment
in the economy, improve the
management of Government
finances and work for the livelihood
security of the common man and
energy security of the country, then
it most certainly affects our national
security.
I promise to you today that our
Government will work hard for India’s
rapid economic growth and for
shielding the country from the
effects of the global economic
slowdown. I promise that we will
work hard for creation of new
employment opportunities for our
young men and women living in
villages and cities. We will make
every possible effort to secure the
livelihood of our poor brothers and
sister, our workers and our farmers.
We will leave no stone unturned to
encourage investment in our country
so that our entrepreneurs can make
a substantial contribution to our
economy.
I believe that this period of difficulties
will not last long. Even as we face
these problems, we should be
encouraged by the fact that we have
achieved extraordinary successes in
many areas in the last 8 years. We
now need to replicate these
successes in newer areas.
It has been our endeavour in the last
8 years to empower our citizens
socially and economically so that
they can contribute to the sacred
task of nation building. Today, one
out of every 5 households in the
country has become eligible to
benefit from the Mahatma Gandhi
Rural Employment Act through a job
card. In only the last one year we
have provided employment to more
than 8 crore people under this
scheme.
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