Frequent elections put on hold development programmes, disrupt normal public life, and impact essential services and burden human resource with prolonged periods of election duty said President Pranab Mukherjee. He was addressing the joint session of the parliament for the winter session.
He said “My government welcomes a constructive debate on simultaneous conduct of elections to Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. Funding of elections to eradicate the misuse of money power also needs to be debated. My Government would welcome any decision taken by the Election Commission in this regard after consultations with political parties.’ Pranab stated.
Taking forward the concept of cooperative federalism through One nation-One tax and One nation-One market, both Houses of Parliament passed the Goods and Services Tax Act. 17 states governed by political parties across the political spectrum ratified this in a record 23 days. My Government is thankful to the GST Council for working to resolve outstanding issues, he said .
India has been widely acclaimed as a bright spot in the global economy, at a time when global growth has been slow. The rate of inflation, the balance of payments, current account deficit and the fiscal deficit have been consistently reduced since 2014. Foreign Direct Investment and foreign exchange reserves have reached record levels. The country’s macroeconomic fundamentals are very strong, creating a platform for sustained high growth, Pranab explained.
FDI inflows in 2015-16 were US $ 55.6 billion, the highest-ever for any financial year.My Government further liberalized FDI policy provisions in various sectors in June 2016 he stated.
My Government is closely working with the State Governments to identify constraints in doing business. The rankings of the States/UTs show that the national implementation average of reforms stands at around 49 percent, much higher than last year’s 32 percent. India is ranked third in the list of top prospective host economies for 2016-18 in the World Investment Report 2016 released by UNCTAD.
India has been facing the grave challenge of terrorism for the last four decades. Terrorism poses a serious danger to the global community. India will actively collaborate with other nations in decisively defeating these forces. My government is committed to combating terrorism, and to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice he opined .
The State of Jammu and Kashmir has been affected by terrorism sponsored and supported from across the border. The attempts of infiltration, incidents of terrorist violence and loss of precious lives of civilians and security personnel remain a cause of grave concern. There has been considerable success in containing Left Wing Extremism over the last three years, with the surrender of over 2600 extremists. The security situation in the North Eastern states has also shown significant improvement he said .
The intensity of our international engagements has helped us shape a diverse and purposeful agenda with our global partners. There has been a consolidation of relations with friendly countries and major powers. The common desire of the South Asian region for greater prosperity and development led most of its nations to make common cause in their opposition to terrorism.
Membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and signing of the Memorandum of Obligations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation were further reflections of India’s growing and multi-dimensional role in global affairs he explained.
There are over Thirty million Overseas Indians, settled in almost every corner of the world. They continue to make invaluable contributions to Indian society and economy. My government will maximize the strengths of Indian diasporain nation building and for deepening our global outreach he opined.
We gather here today to redeem the trust reposed by our countrymen, particularly the poor, in the sacred Institution of Parliament. Every action of ours, in this temple of democracy must be an offering at the altar of the innumerable sacrifices that have built this nation. Let us work towards a common future, seeded in the promise of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, that will bring to all the equality and dignity enshrined in our constitution he concluded.
