Monday, March 21 2005 12:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Minister Arjun Singh, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani and leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh were today (Mar 21, 2005) conferred with the 'Best Parliamentarian Awards' for outstanding performances as representatives of the people.

Presenting the awards, President A P J Abdul Kalam regretted that doubts have been created in public eye over the democratic system recently because of, "arithmetical compulsions of incremental numbers and the alleged tradability of certain legislative seats, won perhaps through means allegedly dubious and undemocratic."

He asked the elected representatives to graduate from "political politics to developmental politics" to ensure that the nation becomes a developed one by 2020.

"There are many national issues, which have to be pursued by Parliament beyond party ideologies. Parliament has to revitalise itself, making it a vibrant, progressive and an ever-growing fortress of democracy," Kalam said, after giving away the awards in central hall of Parliament.

Underlining that he was "concerned" about the success of the country's Parliamentary system, he said, "Our polling processes have been, of late, under severe strain with certain fatal violence."

The President said, "When politics degrades itself to political adventurism the nation would be on the calamitous road to inevitable disaster and ruination. Let us not risk it."

Stressing that the ascending trajectory of the nation's progress "cannot be ensured unless we put the nation above ourselves", he said, "It is time all of us did an introspection and grew up to the expectations that were enshrined so diligently and optimistically by the founding fathers in our Constitution, so that India sustained itself and grew as a mature, healthy, vibrant, democratic nation."

Maintaining that India must move to a trust-based system, which only Parliament can bring about, Kalam said, "Parliament needs to mount a mission to identify and scrap complex old laws and those administrative procedures, which are hindering the growth-oriented development economy."

"This will give scope and a hope to a large section of the people who are honest, to flower and flourish."

The President said that Parliament has to spend all the time with competitive spirit to carry out the developmental tasks in time to realise the vision of making India a developed country by 2020.

Parliamentarians need to pursue, beyond party ideologies, the national issues like march towards developed nation, providing safe water, uninterrupted electricity, healthcare and shelter to every citizen of the country, the plans for communication and computer penetration and national security, he said.

The discussions, debates, generation of alternative ideas and consensus arrived at, towards these goals through Parliamentary processes will certainly lead India towards the path of reaching a developed India even before 2020.

Kalam said that Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) as presented in this year's Finance Bill has to be started on a mission mode, as it will bring prosperity to 600,000 villages through connectivity.