UPA has acted on social sector policies: Prez

New Delhi: Addressing the last session of Parliament before the General Elections, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government had acted on all commitments made though the national common minimum programme that had been translated into laws and policies.

"A democracy is measured by a simple maxim - aam aadmi ko kiya mila? (what did the common man gain?)," she asked.

Patil took a broad sweep of the social sector programmes initiated in the last five years, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act 2008 and the Right to Information (RTI) mentioning that all of them had performed well.

"The NREGS covers the whole country. In 2007-08, nearly 34 million households were provided employment under this programme. Out of those provided work, 55 per cent belonged to Scheduled Tribes and Castes and 49 percent were women."

Earlier, Patil conveyed her special greetings to members of security forces keeping vigil to protect citizens and also made a mention of the global economic crisis.

"We have been through an eventful year... a year that challenged our open society and our open economy. A year that tested by fire the principles that our country has always lived by communal amity, tolerance compassion, justice and peaceful co-existence," she said.

"Looking back, we see hope. We have not only withstood the challenges but also emerged stronger. The spirit of ordinary people rising together as one overcame the challenge to our nation from terrorist violence."

"The calibrated and prudent economic reform pursued by our government is helping us to weather the extreme activities of the global economic meltdown. In both these disruptive events it was our abiding commitment to the principles of democracy that has been our strength."

She also wished Manmohan Singh a speedy recovery to carry on with his "onerous responsibility".

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President Pratibha Patil said the Mumbai attacks were deliberately planned to retard India's economic progress. She said the UPA Government had taken steps to strengten India's internal security and made a special mention of the recently established National Investigation Agency and amendment of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, saying the Government had strengthened the legal and investigative framework to tackle terror.

The President's Budget ended up sounding more like a UPA campaign speech. "People measure the Government not on the basis of what it says but on the basis of what it does. In a democracy, the Government is measured on a simple maxim - aam admi ko kya mila (What did the common man get?). When secular democratic forces came together in this Government, they sought to make itself accountable to the people. Today after close to five years in office, my Government believes that it has acted on all the commitments it made to the people.

Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal has said that the President's speech encapsulated the Government's achievements in the last five years. "It's a politically significant speech," he stated.

However, BJP's Sushma Swaraj said that the speech was uninspiring at the best, and that the common man really did not benefit from the Government

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