Respected Soniaji. Friends,

Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to Soniaji and to each one of you for the support and guidance I have received during this year in office. I believe I express the views of not just our party members but of the people of our country as a whole when I say that we have all been truly inspired by Soniaji's courage, wisdom, forbearance and personal example of selflessness in leading our Party and the United Progressive Alliance.

2. We have, in this past year, lived through truly historic times. Rarely has our country celebrated its pluralism, its diversity, its multi-culturalism as it has this past year. The transition from a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party to a Government led by the Congress Party has been a historic transition. It marks the return of our polity to the mainstream of pluralism and secularism that defined our National Movement and the core of our national politics over the past Century.

3. The forging of the UPA, its political resilience and durability and the alliance that we have today with the Left Parties bear testimony to Soniaji's mature, humane and forward-looking leadership. Each one of us in the Party owes a special debt of gratitude to her for guiding the Party through troubled and uncharted waters. Never before has the Congress Party had to deal with the challenge of forging a coalition, and running a Government on that basis, through such uncharted waters. Our party's historical experience with running a coalition Government was limited. To arrive at a common minimum programme and be able to take so many diverse political parties was even more challenging. Yet, we have done well in making this experiment work. The institutions we have put in place, namely the UPA Coordination Committee, the coordination committee with Left Parties, the core group that meets regularly, are all a new experience for us and we have worked well with them. We have come through many trials of strength and tests of fire and our resolve to make the UPA work has been steeled by this experience.

4. Our greatest contribution this past year to the political and social life of our country has been to bring the Nation back to even keel. To the politics of moderation and the economics of equity and development. Our single most important achievement has been to give the weaker sections of society - the marginalized, the depressed, the Minorities - a new sense of belonging and ownership in the destiny of our Nation.

5. Our commitment to the common man, the aam admi, is not just a commitment to the economic well-being of our people, but to their social, cultural and political empowerment. The Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Minorities, Women, children, the disabled, senior citizens, people living in the far reaches of this vast land, in Jammu and Kashmir, in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The people of our country who may not belong to the Nation's so-called political heartland have come closer to the Nation's heart.

6. We have taken several steps to empower each of these sections of our society. A Bill to provide for reservation of posts in civil services for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes has been introduced. For the first time a High Level Committee of experts, led by Justice Rajinder Sachar, is putting together information on the social and economic status of the Minorities in India. We have also taken steps to economically and socially empower the Minorities and widen employment opportunities for SCs, STs and Minorities in the private sector. A path-breaking legislation to protect the land rights of tribals is on the anvil. Our Government has taken several steps to increase the access of the SCs, STs and Minorities to education at all levels. There can be no better way of empowering the weaker sections of our society than investing in their capabilities and this is what we are doing.

7. I do not wish to run you through the full list of the various policy initiatives we have taken this year. A "Report to the People" was published on the eve of the Budget Session of Parliament and another report is being published later this week. You will see from it that we have been able to deliver on many of our promises and there is work-in-progress on many others.

8. Broadly speaking, we have outlined our priorities, based on the CMP, into seven key areas: Agriculture and Rural Development, Infrastructure, Education, Health, Urban Renewal, Water and the Knowledge Economy. In each of these areas our approach is to pursue a two-pronged strategy of addressing both the issue of equity and efficiency.

9. The "New Deal for Rural India" that we have promised will be based on a new programme of rural development that we have called "Bharat Nirman". "Bharat Nirman" will be a time-bound business plan for action in rural infrastructure for the next four years. Under Bharat Nirman, action is proposed in the areas of irrigation, roads, rural housing, rural water supply, rural electrification and rural telecommunication connectivity. We have set specific targets to be achieved under each of these goals so that there is accountability in the progress of this initiative.

10. Bharat Nirman will build on our commitment to rural employment. The Rural Employment Guarantee Bill is under consideration of Parliament even as a National Food-For-Work Programme has been launched in 150 districts. The Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojana, the National Rural Health Mission, the Horticulture Mission, the National Project for the repair, renovation and restoration of water bodies, and the expanded Antyodaya Anna Yojana have all been designed to offer a "new deal" to rural India.

11. There has been a steep increase in agricultural credit this past year and we have initiated the reform of the agricultural credit system. Investment in irrigation has been stepped up and new schemes for water harvesting have been launched. We have taken steps to encourage crop diversification and increase investment in agricultural research. A Backward Regions Grant Fund with an initial corpus of Rs 5,000 crore has been created to spur the economic development of 170 backward districts. A Food and Nutrition Security Watch has been set up in the Planning Commission to maintain constant vigil on the implementation of food and nutrition security programmes including the PDS, the Food-For-Work programme and the mid-day meal scheme.

12. Our Government's Union Budgets have also put in place policies that will encourage new investment and liberate individual enterprise. We have taken forward banking and financial sector reform and created new windows to facilitate investment. I do believe that we need massive investment, not just in infrastructure, social and economic, but also in agriculture and the manufacturing sectors. The Urban Renewal Mission, our programmes for elementary and vocational education, the modernization of higher education and the massive investments we are seeking in urban infrastructure, like urban metros, roads, sanitation and electricity will modernize urban India.

13. We have taken new initiatives in this regard by creating the policy framework for increased public-private partnership (PPP) in the infrastructure sector. The Committee on Infrastructure that I chair has already cleared the new civil aviation policy, the new electricity policy and a new policy framework for private investment in the development of ports, railways and roads. The policy framework we have put in place defines the new "rules of the game" for the infrastructure sector and will attract massive new investment. Already we are negotiating with Japan a programme of assistance through which more than Rs 20,000 crore will be invested in the development of dedicated high speed rail freight corridor between Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata. This will be the rail parallel to the Golden Quadrilateral in roads.

14. All this will generate new employment, both for skilled and unskilled labour. However, we can generate even more employment if we move forward with the agenda of labour reform and the further liberalisation of investment policy. We must do more to protect the interests of workers in the unorganized sector, improve their working conditions and give them social security, even as we create a more competitive environment for the organized sector.

15. It will have to be our endeavour to consistently work to attract more investment. The people of our country are impatient for change, impatient for a better quality life, impatient for new opportunities. We will be failing them if we do not think "out of the box" and act with courage. We must recognize the challenges and the opportunities we face. Bold initiatives are called for on the economic reform front. I would like to see an improvement in our public finances at all levels of Government. We must reduce wasteful subsidies and divert these resources into investment and employment generation. There is an urgent need for the re-structuring of public expenditure. If we want to generate resources for investment and employment generation then we must make bold to generate revenues and, equally importantly, alter the profile of expenditure. These are easier said than done.

16. We require political consensus both within our own party and across political parties to take this agenda of fiscal reform forward. We must once again pursue disinvestment in public enterprises both to raise resources for development and to make public enterprises more accountable and efficient. I had written to all my ministerial colleagues that ministers and government officials must not view public enterprises as their personal fiefdoms. Equally, public sector managers must not do so. We need a public sector in strategic areas, but we need an efficient public sector run by professional and competent managers in a transparent manner. Public enterprise reform deserves greater attention in the future than we have been able to give so far.

17. I would also like to draw your attention to the series of initiatives we have taken in some of the troubled regions of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East. Just recall the political and social environment we inherited last summer, the level of tension and violence, and compare the situation today. We implemented our promise to repeal POTA, we engaged Naxalite groups in talks and we have initiated a review of AFSPA in Manipur, without in any way allowing the security situation in the country to deteriorate.

18. The Peace Process with Pakistan has been termed "irreversible", the situation in Manipur is back to normal, local elections in Jammu & Kashmir saw a record turnout, the Bus Service between Srinagar and Muzafarrabad was genuinely and widely welcomed by the people of Kashmir on both sides of the LoC. The extremist and terrorist groups in Kashmir are getting increasingly isolated from the people and their desperation shows.

19. I made a statement in Parliament last week placing on record our achievements in the field of foreign policy. I do not wish to recount these again. All I can say is that we have, in this past year, succeeded in improving our relations with all Major Powers, with all our trading and economic partners across the world, with all Asian Powers and with all our neighbours in the wider Southern Asian region from West Asia and the Gulf to South-East Asia and the islands of the Indian Ocean region. Our "Look East Policy" has acquired a momentum of its own, securing for us an invitation to the East Asian Summit later this year. Our global profile has never been more robust. In July I will be participating in a meeting with the G-8 in Scotland. India's dialogue with the G-8 is an important recognition of our place in the world.

20. I have said before that I do believe we have this past year secured for ourselves an international environment that favours our growth and development and that hopes for peace and security in our region. The world is willing to help us move forward, we must do so without hesitation. This calls for bolder thinking, and more efficient governance at home.

21. On the side of governance and policy making I do not wish to claim more than what is our due. Let me say, at the very outset, that we could have done more. Much, much more. I am not satisfied with what we have been able to do in terms of implementing new policy initiatives. A journalist recently asked me what score I will give myself and our Government and I said 6/10. For some this may seem a reasonable mark to get. But I have never been satisfied with a 60 per cent! I do sincerely believe that we can do better. In the coming year that will be our endeavour.

22. The reform of Government will have to be an area of high priority for us. The passing of the Right to Information Bill was an important first step in that direction. The National Action Plan for e-Governance (NEGAP) is another important initiative in this regard. A code of conduct for civil servants is being drawn up and the system of appraisal of IAS officers has been changed. We also require a code of conduct for elected representatives that has the support of all major political parties. We need a political consensus on the criteria for disqualification to public office.

23. Each one of our ministries, every State Government and each of our District and village level administrations has to be reformed so that the Government is able to deliver more, more equitable and more efficiently. We must pursue with greater vigor and conviction the reform of government, of public enterprises, of our political system and of the judiciary. I am heartened by the fact that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has repeatedly spoken of the importance of judicial reform. Our Government will work with the judiciary in enabling this.

24. The challenge before us today is to move forward, rapidly and with confidence. We need a more dedicated and energetic Government. We have to constantly nurture our political roots and widen our political base. The Congress Party is the only pan-Indian political party that truly represents all sections, all regions, all communities of this vast and ancient land. We must water every corner of the field so that every root of our Party is revived and the harvest is full and bounteous. Such are the challenges before the Government and the Party.

25. I am confident that under Soniaji's wise and mature leadership our Party will regain its full glory and once again take this Country forward in the march of progress, prosperity, peace and the well-being of all. Thank you.