New Delhi: Government's concerted efforts to rebuild peace in the North East has started bearing fruit, President A P J Abdul Kalam said on February 17.

"I send my special felicitations to the people of Nagaland, whose yearning for peace has imparted strong momentum to the Centre's efforts in this direction," Kalam said in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session.

He also congratulated the Bodo community for the "successful conclusion of the peace talks".

Stating that developmental activities in the North Eastern region had gathered momentum, he said more than Rs 1,500 crore had so far been released for the purpose from the non-lapsable Central pool.

He said the long-standing demand of better facilities for air travel in the region had also been addressed with the introduction of four 50-seater aircraft.

Kalam said the 10th plan aimed at faster growth, with a stronger thrust on employment generation and equity and targets five crore additional employment and self-employment opportunities.

It has also broadened the agenda of reforms by showing the categorical imperative to remove numerous non-financial barriers to faster development through reforms in civil services, judiciary, education and above all in governance at all levels including 'panchayati raj' institutions.

Underlining that the goal was to transform India into a developed nation by 2020, Kalam said he called upon the Centre and state governments to evolve an action plan for making 10th plan a people's plan and development a people's movement.

"To achieve this, they should concentrate on two mantras: effective implementation with people's participation and effective communication for people's participation," he said.

Referring to the problem of illegal migration from Bangladesh, Kalam said the government was determined to take all necessary steps to check this problem.

He said the problem had assumed serious proportions and affected many states. "There have been reports of Bangladesh territory being used by insurgent groups operating in the North East. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is also active in Bangladesh. This makes the issue of infiltration even more ominous," he said.

He said the state government should take immediate corrective measures for proper utilisation of Rs 1,000 crore police modernisation scheme launched two years ago.

It has been decided to launch the multipurpose national identity card project on a pilot basis in 13 states from April, he said.

The Assembly polls in Gujarat have strengthened Democracy and ended a sad chapter in the State's history, he said, adding "we must resolve to ensure that communal violence is never repeated in any part of our country. The government remains committed to secularism."

PTI