Letter to Congress Workers

Dear friends,

The UPA government has successfully completed six months in office. We can be proud of the role played by the Congress Party in ensuring unity and coordination amongst its different allies and in successfully putting in place an efficient and good government. In the past six months, the Congress Party has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the Common Minimum Programme. It has also proven its commitment to secularism and constitutional legality. We have tried to mitigate the communal policies, whether in education or in the social sector, that the previous NDA Government had implemented. India is a multi-cultural and multi-religious society and it is the duty of the government to ensure that nothing undermines the constitution of the country or disturbs the harmony and peace of our nation.

The UPA government has put in place several development initiatives that directly address the needs of the poorer sections of our society. Special attention has been paid to the agricultural sector. The budget for agricultural research and education has been increased as have loans available to farmers. The UPA government has also tried to put in place schemes and plans that address the question of poverty alleviation as a whole. The UPA government is fully aware that India cannot become a leading world economy unless poverty in the country is addressed on a war-footing. To this end, we have put in place several schemes and plans for poverty alleviation. Our task today remains extending the reach of economic development of our poor rural areas and ensuring that the fruits of economic reform are more equitably distributed. The UPA government plans to do this by pushing the development of small and medium towns and by concentrating on improving infrastructure in rural areas.

The UPA govt. has also notched up several successes in the field of foreign policy. We have furthered the peace process with Pakistan, initiated a new agreement with the ASEAN countries and continued with successful border talks with China. We have strengthened our technological cooperation with the United States and Russia. We will in future continue our mission of building goodwill with our neighbours and strengthening India's economic cooperation with the world. Today no nation can exist as an island. Instead the challenge before us is to ensure that India competes to the best of its ability with the rest of the world and in the bargain, emerges stronger economically and socially.

The UPA government will continue to work for the welfare of all our people. In the coming years, it will be our aim to fully implement the promises made in the CMP charter. The past six months has shown that a lot of hard work is still needed and we are still at the beginning of our task. But it is only by facing these enormous challenges with commitment and honesty that we can turn India into a power house of the twenty-first century.