Click to play videoChildren's Day is celebrated on November 14, every year, in India. To make the day special for the kids, CNN-IBN celebrates the day with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at 7 RCR in New Delhi.
Student: Sir, were you ever punished as a child?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I was punished as a child by my father. I recall that once my father had lost his watch and some money. Some guest at our home had taken it away but my father suspected me. I got a thrashing from him but later when my parents got to know it was someone else they felt very sorry about punishing me.
Student: How important is religion in your life?
Dr Manmohan Singh: Religion is very important because it is a source of values and I imbibe a lot of my value system from various Sikh teachings which I was exposed to at a very early age. These teachings have left a very deep impact on my thinking process. Faith plays a very important role in smoothening tensions of one's life.
CNN-IBN: India, Pakistan relations start and then stop somewhere. There is opposition in India, there are daily attacks in Pakistan, yet you keep trying for the dialogue process. Why is that?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I sincerely believe that out country cannot attain its legitimate position in the committee of nations unless there is peaceful atmosphere in the country, sub-continent and unless all the South Asian countries work together towards growth and development. In this context I feel that peace and amity is important between India and Pakistan.
Student: Do you like singing?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I am very fond of music and my wife is a very good singer. She use to recite the Gurbani when we both were young. Apart from that I am also fond of other music like Ghazals, especially by Mirza Galib.
Student: Eight per cent of India's population today spends only Rs 20 per day. With the price rise, how do you expect them to grow?
Dr Manmohan Singh: Well, we are trying very hard to control the price rise. But when you talk about price rise there are two aspects to it - why have prices gone up? In the recent years we have deliberately raised the prices of foodgrains and number of other agriculture commodities because our farmers need more purchasing power. So, it has two effects. When the consumers will spend more, the farmers will have more purchasing power. However, we are trying that the prices get stabilised and we hope in a year we will see a better control on the price rise.
CNN-IBN: Mrs Gursharan, we know you like to go out for shopping at times. Do you come back and tell the Prime Minister that the prices are really high?
Mrs Gursharan Kaur: I always tell him that we are eating Daal without any problem, but there people who cannot afford even Daal, so how do you think they manage? But even I get the same answer from him and that is that we have to import Daal and it is not easy to reduce prices. But then I wonder that there is so much of hoarding and black marketing in our country. If businessmen can be more honest and avoid hoarding we will be in a better position.
CNN-IBN: Do you agree Dr Manmohan Singh?
Dr Manmohan Singh: It is not just because of the hoarding that the prices are rising but also because when the prices of foodgrains rise in the international market more money needs to be given to the farmers to part from their produce. Hoarding is a secondary thing.
Student: Education was not so expensive for the earlier generations. Why is it getting costlier by the day?
Dr Manmohan Singh: Education is getting costlier as far as private schools are concerned but in government schools, every effort is being made to ensure that education doesn't become a privilege of the rich.
Student: Why is the Government unable to stop the Maoists?
Dr Manmohan Singh: This is a difficult question. India is a country of great diversity and in rural areas particularly it is not possible for the law and order machinery to reach out and therefore some people take advantage of this and indulge in anti-social activities. This is one reason. The other reason is that some people are induced to join the ranks of Naxalites because the level of development they experience is inadequate and they feel that their lives are not getting better as compared to the rich and super rich. That leads to alienation.
Student: I want to be a leader like you. What idea would you like to give me?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I would like very child in our country to grow up in an atmosphere where his or her capabilities can find a way in some kind of creative values. I would like all children to get decent quality of education as well as health care. I would like our children to grow up into adulthood, confident that they can take up any job that they like.
CNN-IBN: How does an aam aadmi become a Prime Minister?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I am an aam aadmi. If I can become the Prime Minister then so can you. I come from a very ordinary, lower-middle class family. It is because of my education that I am what I am. So I think education has played a very important role in making me what I am. Children should take full advantage of the education opportunities they get.
Student: Why do Indians win the Nobel Prize after they leave India?
Dr Manmohan Singh: In India we do not have that atmosphere where much importance is given to people who can think out of the box. The trend of questioning things has not been a part of our education system and that is why we see that when Indian children go abroad they do much better in terms of education and research.
Student: Do you have an Orkut, Facebook or an email account?
Dr Manmohan Singh: I don't have any of them but I am told the details about what the Prime Minister is doing is available on my website.
Student: Which is your favourite sweet dish?
Dr Manmohan Singh: Suji ka halwa.
After the students got the answers to their questions, it was the turn of the Prime Minister to ask them some questions of his own. Here is what he asked and the responses that he got.
Dr Manmohan Singh: How do you feel about the environment in which you are being educated and the health care facilities that are available to you in school or out of school?
Student: My school in Delhi is well-equipped and has all the required health care and education facilities, but I don't think schools in rural areas have these primary facilities.
Dr Manmohan Singh: The Government has introduced the National Health Care Mission to look into this matter and we hope in years to come things will improve in the utmost distant areas of the country.
CNN-IBN: As it is Children's Day today, please tell us how you met Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Dr Manmohan Singh: I met him once in my life when I was a teacher in Panjab University and Panditji had come to address the convocation fare of the university. I think it was in 1962 and it was a most moving experience for me because he used to talk to anyone who had the courage to walk up to him. It was the life wish of many to touch Panditji's hand but his security forces would not let that happen. That was the first time I got to see him.
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