Hon.
Speaker, Sir, for the last few days, a discussion
was going in the House on the President's Address. Firstly, I beg
your pardon for not listening to some of the Members. Several Members
took part in this discussion and mentioned the problems being faced by
this country. I don’t find it necessary to discuss all those problems,
because these have been discussed in the House on several
occasions. But I would like to say a few words about the basic problems which
have been raised here. First of all, I would like to take up the
questions raised by100 Shri
Ram Kishan Yadav. Although he was the last speaker, he has raised the
basic questions regarding human dignity, poverty,120 distress and hunger, which are related
to our country.
In
the Constitution, framed after the freedom struggle, we promised to
protect human dignity. We also said that our biggest wealth is our manpower,
and development of this country depends on this manpower. Mahatma Gandhi
told us that we would be unable to build up a new India unless we
realise the dignity of labour. We have to pay attention to these issues and we
should have done it earlier, but200
it is regrettable that we did not do so. But it is not proper to
say that these issues have not been mentioned in the President's
Address. When the President has proposed to set up a National
Reconstruction Fund, the240
intention behind it was to utilise the manpower of crores of people properly.
We also said that this manpower of crores of youths should be utilised to
remove poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and inequality existing in our
country because this is the wealth which can give us biggest power.
Shri Ram Kishan Yadav has said that it is ironical that our300 thousands of years old culture is full
of liberal ideals, even then the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
and backwards are not treated at par with others in our country. They
are pained about this. To remove this inequality, we will have to bring
them at par with others by giving them special opportunities in the society.
He has also said360
that special attention needs to be paid to the backward classes
and the poor. Some other Members also said that we have always
respected all the religions in our country. Unfortunately, communalism
has been raising its head for the last few400
years in our country and people have become thirsty of blood of each
other in the name of religion. No religion teaches us to fight each other. Time
and again, we have repeated our resolution in the Parliament that we
believe in religious tolerance. It is necessary to take steps in
this regard. Our country has been facing the problem of unemployment. The
manpower is our wealth, but it is not being utilised properly. That
is why, it was earlier said480
that the right to work will be made a fundamental right, but simultaneously,
we will have to create new employment500
opportunities also, and for that, we have to properly utilise the limited
resources of this country. We have to decide whether our limited
resources are to be used for providing luxuries of life or to remove poverty. We
had said this and the President too had stressed in his Address that we
would have to take innovative steps to fill the widening gap between the
prosperous and poorer sections of our society. We don't have any animosity
towards anyone's prosperity, we don’t have any clash or enmity
with the prosperous, but if we want to light a candle of hope600 in the dark world of the poor and the
helpless, then certainly, the affluent will have to make some
sacrifices. Such policies will have to be formulated in our country.
That is why we opted for a planned economy for this country. The Planning
Commission was established in 1950. My honourable friend Shri
Shastri said that a reference to the Planning Commission was made. ।f he goes
through the contents of the speech thoroughly, he will find that I
had said that the draft of the eighth five-year plan would be prepared by
31st March. We cannot700 brush
aside or disregard the concept of a planned economy. If the aspirations and necessities
of a large country are720 to
be fulfilled with limited resources, then it is very essential to give
priority to the idea of planning and the Planning Commission has been
endeavouring to fulfil that dark and even today, it is working in that
direction. My honourable friend, Shri Somnath Chatterjee, has
repeatedly raised burning problems like unemployment, poverty and the problems
being faced by the working class. We feel that if the problem of unemployment
is not checked, it will give rise to distress and800 sorrow in the minds of the unemployed
people. Poverty in itself is a curse, but the pain and distress
in the minds of the unemployed people will not only create disorder
within the society, but will also tear the very840
fabric of our society. Some of my friends here raised question
regarding Assam, Punjab, and Kashmir. I am grateful to the Leader of Opposition,
Shri L.K. Advani for he had rightly understood the importance of these burning
questions. Despite our all-out efforts, even today the situation in Punjab is
not normal. Even today, killings are taking place, but we have900 shared no effort to change this
atmosphere of bloodshed. We have always stressed upon the need to solve this
issue through negotiations, but I would certainly like to add here that
tension has lessened, even if there has not been a perceptible
change. We did make efforts in that direction and we shall continue to do so in
the coming960 days
too. We don't claim that we have created a paradise on earth. I had
never promised a paradise, nor do I promise it today.985
