on and promised to punish the guilty, saying they demonstrate through actions and not only by words.
Releasing the report on the completion of two years of UPA-2 government Sonia Gandhi said that the government was committed to transparency, accountability and probity in public life. She said though the issue of corruption was highlighted very much, but unfortunately some of the opposition parties don’t share the same standard of probity as being practiced by the UPA government.
She said, the government will bring the Lokpal bill in the coming monsoon session of parliament.
Congratulating the Prime Minister for the completion of 7 years in office, Mrs Gandhi said the government is determined to fulfill the expectations of the people. She said in the recently concluded in the Assembly elections the UPA has won in three out of the five states.
Singh and Sonia presented the report at a function at the Prime Minister’s residence and attended by leaders of coalition partners and outside supporters like Samajwadi Party and RJD.
DMK, made a token presence with the attendance of its Parliamentary Party chief T R Baalu. None of its six ministers was present.
Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that the UPA government is determined to take corrective action to
fight the menace of corruption. He said the government was taking several steps to prevent the occurrence of developments like 2G spectrum allocation, procurement and contracting issues related to commonwealth games and similar such matters in state governments.
Dr Singh said such developments have caused many concerned citizens to worry about the state of governance and the pervasiveness of corruption. He said these are legitimate concerns and the UPA government is taking steps to reduce discretionary and ‘arbitrary use of power by public officials’.
On the economic front Dr Singh said the country has achieved 8.5 per cent over all growth with record 5.4 per cent growth in agriculture.
Dr Singh said that even when economic and political stability are assured, the threat of terrorism looms large. “We must all stand united in our combined fight against the forces of terrorism, extremism and instability” he said adding that people of India would stand together as one in fighting the divisive forces of destabilization. “I assure you that our government will remain ever vigilant in the fight against terrorism and extremism’ he said.
The 74-page report presented the achievements in various fields like economy, agriculture, rural development, education and healthcare.
The UPA report said, that several steps have been taken to address the problem of food inflation including selective ban on exports and future trading in food grains.
It also mentioned that the increase in support prices for farmers and the National Food Security Mission led to substantial increase in the production of wheat, rice and pulses. Besides this, several other measures were taken including the National Horticulture Mission to enhance the production of fruits and vegetables.