Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM assures new investment in Rural India

"I am truly delighted to release a postage stamp marking the festival of Pongal. Pongal, taken together with Makara Sankranthi, Lohri and Bhogi, is a secular festival celebrated all over Tamil Nadu and other parts of southern India. It is a festival of bounty. It is an ancient harvest festival that celebrates the toil of our farmers and hopes for the well-being of our people. It is a festival in which we express our gratitude to nature and to the divine for all that they have given us; for the life-giving nourishment they have given us. Pongal is also a festival of celebration of nature. We pray to the elements - the Sun God and fire, without which human civilization could not have evolved and thrived.

The actual day of Pongal, which falls on 14th January, is observed as Makar Sankranti in Northern India. This period is celebrated as Lohri and Maghi in Punjab, the former marked by singing and dancing and the latter given over to devotional rituals and cooking of traditional foods. In Gujarat the celebrations take the form of kite-flying, with beautiful and colourful kites dotting the skyline on Uttarayan. In Bengal there is the huge Ganga Sagar Mela at the confluence of the river Ganga and the ocean, where people converge from all over the country to take a dip in its holy waters.

I am happy that our postal authorities are celebrating our festivals in this fitting manner. These are festivals of unity and festivals of coming together. I greet every citizen of our country, in particular, our citizens in Tamil Nadu for a year of bounty and well-being.

Ours is a society in which agriculture is a way of life. It is not just a source of income and livelihood but also a way of living in peace and harmony with nature. The bright colours, the melodious music and the hearty fare we associate with Pongal and the other harvest festivals is a celebration of life itself. In many parts of our vast sub-continent, people come together through such festivals, cutting across ethnic, linguistic, religious and other boundaries.

Our Government is deeply and sincerely committed to the welfare and well-being of our farmers, of our workers and of all those who are engaged in building an India of our dreams. I do believe that by the end of our tenure in office we will create a new environment of economic security and prosperity for our farmers and all those engaged in productive activity. This requires new investment in rural areas. New investment in irrigation, in rural roads, in power and communications, in education and health, in housing, in marketing and in transportation. This we are committed to push forward.

Our past policies of offering a range of subsidies have benefited only a few. In fact, it has benefited largely the well-off sections of agrarian society. If we really want to help the poor, we must shift the emphasis away from subsidies, to encouraging new investment and extending social security. We need new ways of thinking about old problems.

The beginning of a new agricultural year is a good time to think how best we can in fact extend a new deal to rural India, a new deal to our farmers. How best we can really help the needy, and not just the influential.

I extend greetings to all on the happy occasion of Pongal, Lohri, Bhogi and Sankranthi. I am grateful to my colleague, Shri Dayanidhi Maran to give me this opportunity to participate in this short but beautiful celebration."