To catapult India into the league of developed economies by 2020, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday unveiled a big-ticket infrastructure spending plan, including a Rs 100,000-crore (Rs 1,000 billion) Sagar Mala project linking ports, increasing the coverage of the National Highways Development Programme by linking all state capitals, a technology mission for rail safety and a Tourism Infrastructure Development Fund.
Agriculture, small-scale industry and the social sector were the other thrust areas of Vajpayee's sixth consecutive Independence Day address.
He also said India and Pakistan should increase trade and economic links as they shared a 2,000 km border and it did not make sense to trade through a third country.
While talking about the Lok Pal Bill, which also covered the Prime Minister, Vajpayee said economic offenders would face stringent action.
The Sagar Mala project, to be completed in 8-10 years, envisages setting up of new ports, modernisation of the existing ones and connecting all major ports with the Golden Quadrilateral and the north-south and east-west road corridors.
The first phase of the project, to be launched by March 2004, will facilitate integrated development of the Nhava Sheva and Kochi ports, for which Rs 7,500 crore (Rs 75 billion) will be earmarked.
Vajpayee said the upgradation of road projects outside the NHDP at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) would also commence by the end of the current fiscal.
"The Rs 54,000-crore (Rs 540 billion) NHDP will employ 600,000 people per day next year compared to 300,000 now," he said.
He added that work on the north-south and east-west corridors had started in Srinagar. Before the end of the fiscal, work will start in Kanyakumari, Silchar and Porbandar.
Vajpayee said the number of mobile phone users was expected to double to 30 million in the coming year. He said cellular phone services would be launched in Jammu and Kashmir next week.
The prime minister also announced India's plans to send its first spacecraft, Chandrayaan I, to the moon by 2008.
He said the government would take up the modernisation and expansion of the Delhi and Mumbai airports through public-private participation within the next six months, while work on the greenfield Bangalore airport project would begin immediately.
To address safety-related issues, a technology mission for railway safety, in collaboration with the department of science and technology and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, was also announced.
Further, to provide electricity to 100,000 villages and 10 million households, the ministries of power and non-conventional energy would jointly implement a project over the next two years through the Rural Electricity Supply Technology Mission.
The prime minister also announced the creation of a Tourism Infrastructure Development Fund to improve roads, water and power supply, sanitation, sewage, solid waste management and improvement of the overall ambience in all high-potential tourist destinations.
Five new Indian Institutes of Technology, two Indian Institutes of Information Technology and six super-specialty hospitals on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences will also be set up.
The new Indian Institutes of Technology are to be set up through private sector participation and contributions from the alumni of the institutions.
For agriculture, Vajpayee said efforts would be made to double the farmer's average income by 2010 through a Food Chain Revolution with an emphasis on reducing wastage of agricultural produce.
Like for farmers, credit cards will also be made available to artisans, weavers, and fishermen. Also, interest on loans extended to them will be reduced to 9 per cent a year along with a contributory insurance scheme.
The Centre will also help states to complete 300 mid-size irrigation schemes, at various stages of completion, in the next three-four years.
Vajpayee also launched the Provision for Urban Amenities in Rural Areas scheme, which will involve identification of 5,000 rural clusters with growth potential over the next five years and develop transportation, communication, education, and market connectivity in them.
More funds for the rural employment generation programme and over 2 million new jobs will be created in the sector in the next four years.
Core initiatives
- Rs 7,500-cr modernisation plan for Nhava Sheva & Kochi ports
- All state capitals to be linked to NHDP by four-lane highways, work to begin before March 2004
- Mobile users to double to 30 million this year, mobile services in J&K from next week
- Two projects identified for rivers interlinking, implementation to begin before year end
- Electricity to 1 lakh uncovered villages and 10 million households in the next two years
- Privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports to start in six months, work on greenfield Bangalore airport to commence immediately
- Work on NHDP Phase II in Kanyakumari, Silchar and Porbandar to commence before year end
- Technology Mission for Railway safety launched in collaboration with IIT Kanpur
