वर्तमान परिपेक्ष्य में व्यक्ति एवं सामाजिक जीवन में गौसेवा का महत्व

प्रिय बन्धुवर,

सादर प्रणाम

देश में एक बहुत बड़ा वर्ग है जो गौसेवा के लिए समर्पित है और यह धार्मिक दृष्टिकोण पर आधारित है, और दूसरी तरफ कुछ लोगो का मत आर्थिक दृष्टिकोण पर है। इस विषम परिस्थिति का सामंजस्य परिपक्वता से ही होता है जिसमें वैचारिक समरसता की आवश्यकता है। यह सक्षम सामाजिक नेतृत्व द्वारा ही संभव है। जितना इस विषय का राजनितिकरण होगा उतनी ही समस्या और उलझ जाएगी।

पहले कुछ बौद्धिक एवं मीडिया के लोगो ने राजनेतिक उदेश्य से गौसेवा और दलितों के एक वर्ग के कार्यो में विरोधाभास के भावों को उजागर करने का प्रयास किया जिसका दूरगामी परिणाम घातक है। समाज के ज्यादातर कार्यों एवं क्षेत्रों में कुछ न कुछ विरोधाभास तो अवश्य होते है। समाजशास्त्रियों को चाहिए कि इन्हें समन्वित कर के सभी के लिए साथ चलने का मार्ग प्रशस्त करें।

इन्हीं परिस्थितियों का परिणाम हमें नोएडा में भी देखने को मिला। जिसके तहत कुछ पत्रकारों ने विशेषकर दैनिक जागरण के प्रत्रकार ने गौशाला की कुछ समस्याओं को गलत ढंग से पेश किया। समस्याएं अपनी जगह ठीक है। गौशाला प्रबंधन उनका निस्तारण करने में प्रयासरत है। प्राधिकरण भी यथायोग्य सहयोग कर रहा है। हमें विश्वास है कि हम अपने गौसेवा के उद्देश्य में बिना विचलित हुए आगे बढ़ते रहेगें।

आपका सहयोग एवं मार्गदर्शन हमें सतत आगे भी प्राप्त होता रहेगा।

नोएडा प्राधिकरण बाडों से निकले गोबर, गौमूत्र और गंदे पानी के निकासी के लिए नीलियों का निर्माण कार्य शीध्रता से संपन्न करेगें। गौशाला में रोज निकलने वाले गोबर के निस्तारण का भी आश्वासन पाधिकरण ने दिया है। बाडों के बीच में कच्ची मिट्टी पर इंटरलाकिंग टाईल्स भी लगाने का हमने उनसे निवेदन किया है और तालाब की खुदाई भी करवाना है। हमलोग अपनी तरफ से भी इनसभी कार्यो को आगे बढाएगें।

गोपाल कृष्ण अग्रवाल

BJP Welcomes New FDI Policy of the Modi Government

Opening of FDI in key sectors like pharma, defense and civil aviation will give big boost to the economy by fulfilling capital requirements of the industry and help in job creation through manufacturing in these sectors.

In defense it will help in promotion of exports and self reliance in defense procurement.

In Pharmaceuticals industry which is already catering to African continent and many other third world countries and has also setup its base in US and European nations, it will help in building the multinational character for the industry.

In civil aviation the government has recently announced new civil aviation policy. The policy identifies around 350 places for setting up civilian airports, providing air connectivity. With the opening of FDI in civil aviation, several brownfield airports will start operations, increasing air connectivity network throughout the country. We already have good connectivity through roads, railways and water ways, this additional air connectivity will catelize large scale economic activity throughout the country.

Our farmers in the rural area need alternative employment opportunity and enhancement of their income. Further capital and technology is animal husbandry will help in enhancing income of the rural economy.

There are some reservation with regard to FDI in single and multi brands retail sector but these apprehension be well taken care off.

We already have strong FDI flows of more than $ 55 billion in 2015-16, up from $ 36 billion in 2013-14. By simplification and opening up of the FDI in these sectors, government is set to boost FDI flows further. At present we have large quantity of FIIs inflows which is hot money, with the increasing proportion of FDI’s inflows, the quality of money invested in India will improve.

For India to open up for economic development a proper ecosystem has already been put in place by the government. We now have a strong foundation of robust economic parameters like low inflation, stable currency, large foreign exchange reserves and transparent, corruption free and responsive governance.

It is not without reason that India is now the fastest growing economy of the world and is attracting the highest FDI. All because of the focused and committed approach of the Modi government for all round economy of the country. Over the last two years we have seen that there is a new initiative by the Prime Minister at regular intervals.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal

National Spokesperson BJP

gopalagarwal@hotmail.com  

Laying Foundation For a Better tomorrow

Gopal Krishna Agarwal,

National Spokesperson on Economic Affairs, BJP

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent trip to America has elevated Indo-US ties to new heights, especially economic partnership. The confidence exhibited at the India-US business conclave earlier this week is a case in point.

His government has recently completed two years in office. Going by the reports of various international think tanks and international institutions, the Modi government has set India on the fast track to growth by introducing a raft of measures to boost the economy.

Recent data from the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) points towards the fact that the Centre's focused approach over the last two years is bearing great results. Some people have expressed their reservations on these economic growth figures. But apart from a few well-reasoned arguments, most of the criticism is politically motivated. It should be borne in mind that the GDP now is being calculated using the globally accepted Gross Value Added (GVA) method.

With the growth rate nearing 8 percent in the last quarter of 2015-16, there is no doubt that the economy, which was left in complete shambles by the previous UPA government, is on the fast track to recovery. All fiscal parameters are on target, whether it is revenue collection or expenditure or fiscal deficit at 3.9 percent of GDP.

Per capita income has also risen to Rs 93,293 from Rs 86,879 last year. Experts believe that the economy could grow in the range of 8-8.2 percent in 2016-17. This would be backed by agriculture sector growth surpassing the 3-4 percent mark depending on the monsoon.

All these achievements are the result of the Modi government's tireless efforts. Flagship initiatives like UDAY, PAHAL, and renegotiating Mauritius tax treaty, the revival of held-up projects in roads and rural infrastructure, are showing extremely encouraging results.

These initiatives have created the requisite infrastructure and demand in the economy to attract domestic and foreign investment. Corruption-less and transparent governance in the last two years has added more than Rs 4 lakh crore to the government treasury on account of spectrum allocation, coal block, and mineral auctions, etc.

1 would like to highlight some of the key areas of focus for the government. The first focus is towards dealing with corruption and crony capitalism. Over the past 20 years, the world has been reeling under the thumb of crony capitalists. To the uninitiated, crony capitalism is a nexus between businessmen, obliging bureaucrats, and politicians. It undermines the state, distorts resource allocation and is against the spirit of equal entrepreneurship opportunities.

Through a fair judicial system, efficient regulation and transparency in political funding, one can bring positive results over a long period of time. Immediate steps to tackle this menace include the careful and transparent process of transfer of government resources into private hands, management of state-owned banks, especially their debts and NPAs, control of parking and stashing of illegal money abroad.

On this count government has been very focused and successful in its approach. In its recent edition, The Economist stated: "Encouragingly, India seems to be cleaning up its act. In 2008 crony wealth reached 18 percent of GDP, putting it on a par with Russia.

Today it stands at 3 percent, a level similar to Australia. A slump in commodity prices has obliterated the balance sheets of its wild west mining tycoons. The government has got tough on graft, and the central bank has prodded state-owned lenders to stop giving sweetheart deals to Moghuls. The pinups of Indian capitalism are no longer the pampered scions of its business dynasties."

A point of caution is that we have to be very careful with the public-private partnership model. Under this system, crony capitalists have devised a mechanism of transferring government resources in a non-transparent manner. A case in point is the DND project in Noida.

The second important issue is the management of overall debt. The world has been witness to China's financial problems and its debt bust. The Chinese Debt/GDP ratio has increased to 260 percent from 150 percent in a decade. The latest issue of Economist says that its problem loans have doubled in two years.

Hungry for profits in a slowing economy, plenty of Chinese banks have miscategorised risky loans as investments to dodge scrutiny and lessen capital requirements, according to The Economist. "These shadow loans were worth roughly 16 percent of standard loans in mid-2015, up from just 4 percent in 2012."

There are many lessons India could learn from China. The Modi government has learned them well. Instead of pushing the problem under the carpet, the Modi government has tackled it head on. The ongoing clean-up of bank balance sheets will help spur economic growth and improve the lenders' profitability. "Prompt actions are being taken on willful defaulters," said Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance.

"One of the key considerations in a situation like this, the banks should be empowered and consequently protected so that they can bring about prudent settlements," said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "The overall operational profit of public sector banks last year was quite significant. It was in excess of Rs 1.4 lakh crore. It is on account of provisioning that the overall the PSBs declared a net loss of Rs 18,000 crore

The government has already enacted the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code. Another set of amendments to the debt recovery legislation and securitization legislation are before Parliament. The government is also considering setting up of Stressed Asset Management Funds.

The focused approach is not limited to empowering and supporting banks to deal with NPA menace, but the government agrees that the bad loan situation has also arisen on account of certain sectoral stresses like held up road construction, blocked environmental clearances, and dumping, among others.

The government is doing everything to restart held up projects, clearances, anti-dumping measures and do away with policy paralysis. The government has gone even further ahead and implemented the recommendations of the Nayak Committee Report like the setting up of a Bank Board Bureau.

The third important initiative is the ease of doing business. These initiatives have helped in catalysing private investments. Some of the initiatives include easy exit policy for genuine investors, repealing of about 1000 redundant laws and more to come, faster and transparent project clearance policy and better dispute resolution mechanism in the tax department where thousands of crores of individual and government resources are blocked.

There has been a reduction in the cost of collection of direct taxes from 1.36 percent in the year

2001-2 to 0.59 percent in 2014-15. The government has also initiated premature retirement and the removal of inefficient and corrupt employees from various departments. And finally, targeted and focused approach to ending corruption and black money, giving one-time compliance window to declare illegal foreign and domestic assets.

Some areas, which require flagging for the future, are labor reforms, disinvestment reforms, especially for loss-making PSUs, lowering of interest rates as demanded by business community with inflation, particularly of food items looming large, and land acquisition issues and above all the passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill.

Narendra Modi's philosophy of economic development is growth through empowerment. The government has not only been successful in generating resources for the benefit of the weaker sections but also spending this money to reach the target beneficiaries in a transparent manner.

With the use of JAM and direct benefit transfer (DBT), the government has plugged leakages and created additional revenue for social security. The government has given them social security and also generated widespread demand to boost the economy.

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The resources at the command of the government are being utilized to build rural infrastructures like toilets in rural areas, electricity to each and every household, housing for by 2022, irrigation and rural roads.

Employment opportunities for the weaker sections are being enlarged through Skill India, Startup India Stand-up India and by easy access to loans under MUDRA Bank. The real game changer in the near future will be the doubling of farmers' income through reduced cost, better national market access facilities, risk mitigation through user-friendly crop insurance cover, soil health card, efficient irrigation like drip irrigation, neem coated urea and digitization and reforms of land records, etc.

Truly this government is focusing on the development of all sections of the society across cast, creed, religion and geography. As a result of this focused approach, India has become one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world and has been able to attract largest Foreign Direct investment (FDI). We are sure that the government will not sit on its laurels.

There is much more in store.

This Glass of Half Full

Gopal Krishna Agarwal,

National Spokesperson of BJP,

The recent rate cut by the RBI is expected to provide significant support to the Indian economy The RBl and the central government have now decided to work together to ensure that the cumulative rate cut of 125 basis points is transmitted across the board.

India is moving to a low interest rate regime. Now is the right time for the government to capitalize on the rate cut and move quickly on other administrative and legislative reforms. The Indian economic model is very different from the Chinese one, Unlike the export-driven Chinese economy. India is domestic demand-driven and there is no excess capacity of the kind now being witnessed across China.

One reason for the low rate of investment in India is the lack of demand.

This should recede as soon as demand picks up. The lack of good and efficient physical infrastructure provides the government with an opportunity to ramp up public expenditure in sectors that would naturally be crowded with private investment. Taking cue From this, the government had planned large-scale investments in infrastructure. These are in addition to the mega investment plans unfurled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi like Digital India', Make in India', Start Up India', smart cities, power sector reforms, and coal block auctions.

The manufacturing sector is competitive and is not subsidy-dependent like the Chinese counterpart. The trickle of investments from abroad under schemes like Make in India' should soon turn into deluge once the various steps being taken by the government kick into action. The panic-driven flight of global financial capital will hopefully reverse in the near future as India provides the best risk-adjusted returns on Investment to this capital.

Because of this government's over-emphasis on the goods and services tax and Land Acquisition Bill, many in the corporate sector seem to be losing sight of the multiple steps being taken by the Centre. The government is seeking to establish an overarching framework under which citizens' entrepreneurial potential can flourish.

"This is what minimum government. maximum governance is all about.

The business sector can be excused for its impatience. With the lack of major reform during the previous regime and 17 months of the Modi government down the line, India Inc. is desperate For action. It is seeking palliatives while the government is committed to structural change. A good example of this is the issue of land acquisition.

After strong opposition by various political parties, the government has decided to allow state governments to have their own land acquisition laws.

This, at once, converts a potentially political showdown into a great opportunity for the states to come with their own laws. A healthy competition between states will ensure that the policy is attractive to industry while state-level politics is expected to ensure a fair deal to the farmers. An issue that has also attracted major attention is that how India should focus on the gross value added (GVA) in these times of tax collection and falling subsidies. The GVA has increased from 6.1% to 7.1% of GDP showing that the economy is gathering momentum, rather than being stagnant.

The picture, however, is not rosy. The banking sector, for instance, has emerged as a weak link in the current narrative. The public sector banks (PSBs) are saddled with massive non performing assets (NPAs) and restructured loans of doubtful quality. This is coming in the way of credit flow.

The government has taken a number of steps to restore vitality to the PSBs, including restructuring capital and professionalizing the bank management. Steps like putting the focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector finance through Mudra Bank and new initiatives of payment banks will bear fruit in the near future. A free-float currency also provides the RBI with more headroom to take steps to manage capital flows.

In the debt market RRI policy has allowed government to borrow 1.2lakh crore internationally over the next five years, giving ample opportunity to the government to take up mega investment plans, generating the much-needed demand push to the economy.  Even the private sector has been permitted to go for cheaper external commercial borrowings (ECBs).

The economy is gathering momentum and its underlying fundamentals remain strong. India has a government at the Centre that is committed not only to maintain this momentum but to also take steps to further accelerate the growth rate. Opportunities await..

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Focus on Entrepreneurship: Startup India, Standup India

Last month, India's Prime Minister visited Silicon Valley where he interacted with world's top entrepreneurs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla’s Elon Musk. He spoke about his commitment and vision to “Startup India, Standup India”. Earlier in his Independence Day speech, Modi had announced a new campaign 'Startup India; Stand up India' to promote bank financing for startups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation in the country.

Modi Ji wants that government should focus on Innovation and entrepreneurship as they are the main solution to create job opportunities in India. The BJP government is committed to promote startups and entrepreneurship in India at a very big scale. To achieve this target BJP government plans to incentivize entrepreneurship and create conducive ecosystem for startups.

Some of the proposed initiatives are:-

A)     Low Taxation regime and Tax breaks - Many countries exempt startups from tax to encourage them. Tax breaks for investors and even employees for things like Esops (employee stock options) will help us attract more talent, create more jobs and up the risk appetite. Finance Minister has also specifically committed that corporate tax will be reduced to 25% in near future.

B)      Easy Approval Process - Starts up will get easy approval process so that they can easily promote their business and get capital from venture capitalist and angel investors.

C)      Incubation centres - The government is talking to premier engineering schools such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) to reactivate incubation centres for providing a plug-and-play model for startups

D)     In 2015, venture capital (VC) investments have hit an all- time high. After May 2014, when BJP came to power venture capital fund activity increased to a very large extent. As per government reports, the July-September quarter saw a 41 per cent rise in comparison to the same period last year, which witnessed 79 deals worth USD 264 million.

E)      Mudra Bank Initiative - To benefit 5.77 crore small business units, government launched MUDRA Bank loan scheme, which will provide credit of up to Rs 10 lakh to small entrepreneurs without collateral and act as a regulator and provide refinance for 'Micro-Finance Institutions' (MFIs).

F)      Easy Exit Policy (Bankruptcy Act) – Modi government is making exit norms easier for startup by bringing new bankruptcy act in the coming session of Parliament.

G)     Low Interest Rate Regime - The economy has entered a low interest rate regime with the latest monetary and credit policy. This is helping government to focus on investments and also help Startups to get capital at low interest rate.

H)     Lower compliance and simple registration process for small and medium enterprises.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal

National Spokesperson BJP

Gopal.agarwal@bjp.org

देश विकास के पथ पर विपक्ष को रास नहीं

                                                                                                                      गोपाल कृष्ण अग्रवाल

                                                                                                                     राष्ट्रीय प्रवक्ता भाजपा

नई सरकार बने अभी ज्यादा समय नहीं हुआ है, देश की जनता को लगने लगा है कि अब देश की वागडोर एक ईमानदार और विकास पुरूष के हाथ में हैं। जिस तरह से मोदी जी के नेतृत्व ने भारत की विकास दरों को नई ऊँचाइयों पर पहुँचाया उसे देख विश्व के बड़े से बड़े पुँजिपतियों में भारत में निवेश करने की होड़ लग गयी है। इसका प्रमुख कारण भारत की बढ़ती हुई अर्थव्यवस्था, दुसरे और देशों के तुलना में भारत में ज्यादा मुनाफा है और मोदी सरकार की स्पष्ट व्यापार नीति है। यूपीए के समय में व्यापारियों का विश्वास सरकार पर घट गया था, अब मोदी सरकार के समय यह लौट आया है। भारत में पढ़ा लिखा युवा बेरोजगार होकर निराश हो जाता था इस देश में 65 % युवाओं को यूपीए सरकार में रोजगार के लिए दर बदर भटकना पड़ता था। अब उनके लिए नए नए अवसर मिल रहे है। मोदी सरकार उनके लिए एक वरदान सिद्ध हुई है। हर क्षेत्र में विकास का डंका बज चुका है जिससे विपक्ष के होश उड रहे है। उनकी राजनीति दाव पर लगी है उसपर विराम लग चुका है, उन्हे भारत का विकास हजम नहीं हो रहा है। कांग्रेस 65 साल के बाद अब विकट स्थिति में है, अलग - अलग दावपेंच अपना रही है। दुनिया को तो भारत का विकास दिख रहा है पर राहुल गांधी जी को भारत की बढ़ती विकासदर दिखाई नहीं देती है।

1980 में अमेठी के किसानो की 65 एकड जमीन कांग्रेस ने हड़प ली, और किसानो से कहा कि वो साइकिल फैक्ट्री बनायेंगे, लोगो को रोजगार देंगें। और अब सच्चाई ये है कि आज भी उस जमीन पर ना तो कोई कारखाना लगा और न ही किसी को रोजगार मिला है और तो और उस जमीन को राजीव गांधी ट्रस्ट को दे दिया गया है। कांग्रेस का इतिहास देंखे तो एक के बाद एक घोटाले देश के सामने उजागर हुए। जनता का पैसा लूट कर पार्टी के राजनीतिक हलकों में पहुंचा दिया गया जिसकी वजह से देश की अर्थव्यवस्था चरमरा गई।

अभी हमारे सामने बिहार का महत्वपूर्ण चुनाव है। बिहार में इस बार विकास के लिए मतदान होगा। जातिवाद को खत्म कर विकास की राह पर चलने का फैसला बिहार की जनता का स्पष्ट दिख रहा है। जनता की बदलाव की इच्छा इस बार की बढती वोटिंग प्रतिशत से साफ नजर आ रही है। विधानसभा के पहले चरण में जनता ने लगभग 57 % मतदान किया है। जोकि 2010 में 50.85 % था। दुसरे चरण में 55.14 % मतदान किया। जोकि 2010 में 52 % था। पहले चरण में महिलाओं में अधिक उत्साह दिखा करीब 59.5 % महिलाओं ने मतदान में हिस्सा लिया है जबकि 54.5 % पुरूषों ने मतदान किया है। महिलाओं का अधिक मतदान करने का एक महत्वपूर्ण कारण है कि पूर्व में बिहार में जिस तरह से ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में शराब के लाइसेंसों में वृद्धि हुई है उससे महिलाएं परेशान है। एक दशक पहले 779 शराब के लाइसेंस थे और अब संख्या 2360 की हो गयी है जनता दल की सरकार में शराब से राजस्व की हिस्सेदारी 2007 में 10.38 से बढकर वर्ष 2014-2015 में 18 % हो गई है जिसको लेकर ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में शराब बिक्री के खिलाफ महिलाओं के द्वारा वर्ष 2012-13 में दुकानों पर धरना देने के कई उदाहरण आपको मिल जायेंगे।

नीतीश जी के राज्य में विकास का जो वादा था वह भी नहीं दिखता है। भागलपुर से पटना शहर को जोडने वाले 80 किमी. के राष्टीªय राजमार्ग पर किसी का ध्यान नहीं है। नीतीश कुमार की सरकार ने वर्ष 2005-06 में एक लाख करोड़ के निवेश और जो 2350 मेगावाट क्षमता वाले एनटीपीसी थर्मल पावर स्टेशन का वादा किया था आज 10 साल बाद भी कुछ नजर नहीं आता है। औद्योगिक परिदृश्य मुंगेर, बेगुसराय, समस्तीपुर, गया जैसे शहरों में बहुत अलग नहीं है। समस्तीपुर में चीनी मिल बंद होने से 2000 परिवारों का रोजगार छिन गया है। जनता को इस बार विकास के लिए मोदी सरकार पर भरोसा है। लालू जी को तो सिर्फ जातिवाद और गौमांस जैसे मुद्दे पर राजनीति करना है। अभी उन्होने बीफ पर जो एक विवादित बयान दिया है कि, हिन्दू भी बीफ खाते है, ऐसा कहना हिन्दू समाज के लिए बडी पीडा देने वाली बात है। एक बात हमें ध्यान रखनी है। कि हिन्दू समाज गाय को पूज्य मानता है इसलिए गौमांस त्याज मानता है। दूसरी तरफ मुस्लिम सुअर को गंदा मानते है इसलिए उसके मांस का भक्षण नहीं करते। दोनो में वैचारिक असमानता है जिसके कारण गौमांस और सुअर के मांस भक्षण में भेद है।

साहित्यकारो के अवार्ड लौटाने पर भी चर्चा जोरो पर है। यह एक विशेष विचारधारा के लोंगो के घटते प्रभाव के मद्ददेनजर हो रहा है। साहित्यिक क्षेत्र का राजनीतिकरण नहीं होना चाहिए। विचारों में बदलाव एंव प्रगति ही जीवन का लक्षण है। किसी एक विचारधारा विक्षेष का प्रभाव सामाजिक जीवन पर नहीं रह सकता है। बदले राज्य परिपेक्ष्य में नई विचारधारा सामने आयेगी ही।

gopal.agarwal@bjp.org

ECONOMICS Round up - The week that was (3rd October 2015) Key Issues Solve - Black money law, state of the economy, the re...

This is the first time a government has taken a strong position on black money. Key issues on black money resolved by Modi Government which was not taken care off by previous Government like in the very first meeting of the Cabinet Modi Government constituted the Special Investigation Team, an initiative at the G20 for sharing of information, India has become a signatory to Fatca, negotiations with the Swiss authorities for sharing of information and the Swiss are cooperating. Accordong to India's Finance minister, Rs 3,770 crore was declared by 638 persons under the three month window for compliance which is one of the important successful parameter of the Modi Government. The NDA government is also putting efforts to levy xes on income held abroad.

To Curb black money the NDA government has taken many steps. It will be very difficult for people having (undisclosed) assets abroad to hide their footprints. E-commerce is a reality. Payment gateways, payment banks will encourage more and more transaction through plastic money and that will make transactions transparent. All 18 crore Jan Dhan account holders, have RuPay cards. That economy too will become transparent.

Big Jump in FDI : Between 2011 and 2014, US FDI equity inflows into India was $2.4 billion. But between June 2014 and June 2015, US FDI into India jumped to $2.2 billion, which basically means that in one year, US investment has been the same as it was in the three years before that.

Rate Cut : Over the last 16 months of the NDA government the rates have come down by 125 basis points. It is very encouraging that inflation is under control. There may be stray items which become costlier because of weather or production shortfalls, but by and large, inflation is under control. Therefore capital is going to become increasingly more affordable. This will help in generating demand, it will also help spurring investment and be of considerable aid in the growth potential. We are going to be increasingly vigilant on two counts, one on watching that inflation does not pick up and two keeping the fiscal deficit under control.

Now the most important event for the next couple of month is a Bihar Election. A win in Bihar elections will be very positive for the NDA government. Every win in a state changes the composition in Rajya Sabha. Those who obstruct must be made to pay by the electorate.