Referring to the recent emergence of Gandhigiri, Shinde emphasised that while on one hand people feared that Gandhian ideologies of non-violence and truth were taking a backseat, the media was fostering the spread of these very ideals. “Though the Gandhian ideals still exist, they need to undergo a transformation with changing times,” he said.

Rural development was on the Congress’ agenda, said Shinde, listing the party’s agendas and achievements. “While the growth rate has increased to 9.2 percent, 11 per cent is the goal we aim to achieve in the next few years,” he said. Referring to the Power Ministry’s eleven 400 MW projects, each worth Rs four billion, Shinde stressed that by 2009 all the villages would receive electricity. “While earlier 1,25,000 villages were without electricity, power problems in 45,000 villages have already been addressed so far, and the others will receive power penetration soon,” he said.

Shinde gave away ‘Ba-Bapu’ as well as ‘Mahila and Purush Vidhayak Karyakarta’ awards, before departing. R Kausalyadevi from Tamil Nadu’s Gandhigram Trust received the ‘Ba’ award for her medical and social services in rural social welfare, the ‘Bapu’ award went to Bordii’s Jayant Patil for his contribution in tribal education and employment generation activities. Sangamner’s Dr Rajendra Khatal received the ‘Purush Vidhayak Karyakarta’ award while Shevanti Chauhan from the Kasturba Trust in Saswad.