Salient features of Statute to be inviolate during review

Salient features of Statute to be inviolate during review
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, FEB 23: President K R Narayanan today said the basic structure and salient features of the Constitution would be kept "inviolate" during its review that has "become necessary".

``While keeping the basic structure and salient features of the Constitution inviolate, it has, however, become necessary to examine the experience of the past 50 years to better achieve the ideals enshrined in the Constitution,'' he said in his traditional address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, which contains the political and economic agenda of the government for the coming fiscal.

The President's address marking the opening of the budget session was in contrast to the speech Narayanan made on the occasion of golden jubilee celebrations of the republic in the central hall on January 27 when he cautioned against any review that would alter the system of parliamentary democracy and basic features of the Constitution.

In his address, he said the recommendations of the broad-based Constitution Review Commission would be presented to Parliament which was the supreme decision-making body in Indian democracy.

The President said the Constitution adopted 50 years ago had served the country well. It had been a reliable guarantor of parliamentary democracy, secularism and fundamental rights which all Indians cherished.

It had also inspired the spread of democratic consciousness in Indian society, empowering dalits, adivasis, backward classes and women and made the system of governance more participative and progressive, he said.

The President indicated that the general budget would be harsh, warning that the growing fiscal deficit needed to be contained to move on to a higher growth rate of over 7 per cent.

"We have to adopt measures to curb the rising trend of non-plan expenditure. These require difficult decisions on expenditure control, downsizing of government and austerity in spending," Narayanan said.

Expressing concern over the "worrisome" financial condition of the states, he said this needed to be urgently reversed as gross fiscal deficit of states has touched a record Rs 75,000 crore - 4.3 per cent of GDP.

The burden of interest payments continued to be large at above 4 per cent of GDP, he said, adding increased government borrowing limited the government ability to expand health and education services and anti-poverty programmes.

The President also asserted that India was ready to meet any challenge to its territorial integrity and democracy, and said government would pursue its four-pronged strategy to counter Pakistan-backed terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan has shown no inclination to end its policy of aiding and abetting cross-border terrorism and its hostile anti-India propaganda," Narayanan said.

He expressed the hope that Islamabad would reverse its policy of hostility towards India for restoration of normal ties between the two countries.

Touching upon several steps being taken to push the liberalisation process, Narayanan said the government would announce the new agricultural policy and vigorously pursue a coherent plan of economic reforms.

He asserted that India will continue to abide by the imperative of preserving its "strategic autonomy" while addressing multilateral disarmament initiatives and treaties.

Outlining the broad contours of government's foreign policy for the coming year, Narayanan reaffirmed India's commitment to global nuclear disarmament in a time-bound manner on a comprehensive and non-discriminatory basis.

The president's address made no direct reference to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) issue. The Vajpayee Government has said that a decision on signing the CTBT would be taken only after achieving the widest-possible consensus and a debate in Parliament.

The government will continue to vigorously pursue acoherent plan of economic reforms. These reforms will cover agriculture industry, public enterprises, fiscal consolidation and devolution, tax reform, Financial sector reform and foreign investment policies.

Most importantly, they will also cover policies forimproving the performance of key infrastructure sectors - namely, power, roads, railways, ports, civil aviation, telecommunications and petroleum.

Special programmes for the generation of productive wageE mployment in the rural areas, especially for creating permanent infrastructure assets and self-employment opportunities for the unemployed youth will be given greater thrust. The swarna jayanti gram swarozgar yojana, the Jawahar gram samridhi yojana and the restructured employment assurance scheme will be vigorously implemented and closely monitored.