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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured that wrongdoers in the high profile corruption cases such as 2G spectrum allocation, coal blocks allocation and cases related to land will be punished through due process of law.
Addressing a press conference, he said that there was much public concern on high profile allegations of corruption notably with regard to 2G spectrum allocation, coal blocks allocation and cases related to land. “We have taken major steps to change the existing procedures for allocation of spectrum and coal by shifting to auctions so that these problems do not arise in the future,” he added.
He also mentioned that when some decisions taken earlier, when allocations were made administratively, have come under questions, they are being investigated.
“Any wrongdoing will be punished through due process of law,” he informed while adding that land issues are in domain of the State Governments and the Centre consistently advised the State Governments to ensure transparency in these cases.
3 challenges on economic front
He listed three challenges on economic front. First was not generating enough employment in the manufacturing sector, second being not controlling the persistent inflation and third was the corruption.
On inflation, he said, “The worry about inflation is legitimate but we should also recognise that incomes for most people have also increased faster than inflation.”
He mentioned that real wages in rural areas and per capita consumption in both rural and urban areas have increased significantly.
“Rural real consumption per capita has increased four times faster. Because of these developments, the percentage of population below the poverty line has fallen much faster in the period 2004 to 2011 than it did in the previous ten year period. As a result, the number of people below the poverty line has come down to 13.8 crore,” he said.
On reforms, he said that these are not one-off process but a continuous one. He also assured the foreign investors that India will continue to provide hospitable environment as it used to be.
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