Nationalist Congress Party Introduction Nationalist Congress Party, which came into existence only ten years ago, has within this short span of time become a significant party in India. This party was whole-heartedly welcomed by the people from the very inception in June 1999. The people gave such a massive support to the party in the parliamentary elections that was held in 1999, just three months after the formation of the party that the Election Commission of India after assessing the performance of the party in the elections, which the party fought all alone, conferred the “National Recognized Party” status to the party which was the only instance in the history of the country of any party obtaining the national status within such a short period after its formation. Now, NCP has strong functioning units in almost all the states and union territories of the country. The party is in government in three states, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Goa. We have our representatives in ten more states; Kerala, Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam. NCP will be ten years old by 10th June 2009. We are thankful to the people for the support they have given us. We are proud of the party’s growth in these years. By the time we celebrate our next birthday, after the elections, NCP will emerge as a leading party in our country capable of playing a decisive role in shaping the future of the country. What NCP stands for NCP stands for a democratic secular society wedded to equality and social justice as well committed to preserve the unity and integrity of our country. We look up at democracy as a holistic outcome of secularism in practice, ensuring equal rights, politically, economically and socially to each and everyone in the country. Secularism to us means fraternity amongst followers of different faiths, respecting each others’ faith and cooperation and coexistence among them without any prejudice. By equity and social justice we mean to ensure equal opportunity for all in all spheres of life, especially for education and skill development with special affirmative action for the deprived sections of the society. NCP would ensure the unity and integrity of India by strengthening our federal set up through decentralized functioning of the government and the rule of law without any prejudice to any religion, caste, creed, community, region, sex or status. NCP’s slogan in the election is good governance and a stable government, development oriented, transparent and corruption-free. NCP’s concept of development By development, we mean overall development of the life of the common man including the weaker sections of the society in as much as it provides a better life for them, better housing facilities, better food, better clothing, facilities for giving better education for their children, and better health facilities. All these depend on more earnings or remuneration. So the economic development should provide for more employment opportunities and more employment generation schemes and projects. NCP’s role in the formation of the United Progressive Alliance in Parliament Elections 2004 After the election, the UPA was called upon to form the government. The government was formed on the basis of a common minimum programme (CMP) approved by the UPA partners as well as the Left parties, who also came forward to support the government. Most of the proposals of NCP have been incorporated in the CMP. Achievements of UPA government During the UPA regime, India has recorded tangible growth in our economy and India is one of the fast developing countries in the world. The growth of agriculture sector has not only bestowed us with complete food security, but also enabled us to export food grains to foreign countries. The implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been a great relief to the starving millions of this country. The Right to Information Act enacted by the UPA is an effective weapon for fighting corruption. The implementation of the Sachar Committee recommendations, which provide for proper educational facilities and scholarships and other assistance is a great step to bring the neglected minorities especially Muslims, to the National mainstream of the country. The introduction of 27% reservation for students of other backward communities in all institutions of higher education will provide equal opportunity in the field of education. Steps to implement universal primary education will help the rural poor to get better means of livelihood and a better life for them. Performance of NCP Ministers The NCP Ministers have proved by their performance their capacity in evolving effective schemes and programmes in their areas of operation and their efficiency for speedy implementation of those schemes. They have been applauded by all concerned as the most effective ministers. Agriculture In a country where agriculture was being neglected for the last many years and the production of food grains was coming down and shortage of food articles was being increasingly experienced, Shri Sharad Pawar, within the last five years has worked wonders in the agricultural sector. As more than 65% of the population of our country depend on agriculture and agriculture related activities for their livelihood, Pawarji knew that the prosperity of India lies in the growth of the agriculture sector and the increase in the production and productivity in the sector. Pawarji with his wide experience in the field of agriculture and extensive interaction with farmers chalked out plans and schemes to solve the problems the farmer community was experiencing and implemented the schemes with determination. He managed to get the budget allotment for agriculture, which stood below 2% of the total budget allotment, revised and increased to 4.5%. Steps for increasing productivity He was successful in attracting substantial investment in the agriculture sector, which enabled him to provide irrigation, water and electricity supply to farmers at reasonable rates. More allocation of funds was made for irrigation. More land was brought under irrigation. As a step to rejuvenate agriculture sector, the National Food Security Mission was launched in 2007 to enhance production and productivity of rice, wheat and pulses and make us self sufficient in food grains. The scheme was implemented in 312 districts spread over seventeen important rice, wheat and pulses growing states in the country. Consequently, significant increase has been recorded in the productivity of rice and wheat in those districts. The overall increase in production of wheat and rice in the succeeding years has been three million tons of wheat and three million tons of rice. A number of other schemes also have been launched during these five years to give focused attention to increase productivity. The National Horticulture Mission, Central Institute of Horticulture in Nagaland, Jute Technology Mission, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna, National Project on Management of Soil, Health and Fertility, National Bamboo Technology & Trade Development, National Project on Organic Farming are a few of them. Farming made profitable Side by side with the implementation of those schemes, urgent steps were taken to solve the problems of the farmers and to make farming profitable. Minimum support price Substantial increase was made in the minimum support price of rice and wheat and other food grains and cotton. The procurement price of rice which stood at Rs. 550/- in 2004 has been increased to Rs. 900/- for ‘B’ grade and Rs. 930/- and the MSP for wheat has been increased to Rs. 1,080/-. Restrictions imposed on farmers to sell their products to private agencies was removed and the farmers were given freedom to sell their products to anybody for better price. Loans were made available for farming at reduced rate of interest and that also at easy terms and conditions from all banks. The banks have started issuing crop loans to farmers at 7% interest and the banks will be compensated by the government. Loans up to Rs. 50,000/- for farming are being now issued security free. Tens of thousands of farmers who had availed of loans from banks and private money lenders at exhorbitant rates of interest could not repay the loans because of successive failure of crops caused by draughts and floods. The steps taken by the banks for recovery of the accumulated debts had driven many of them to suicide. Waiver of all such accumulated debts were implemented by the government to save the affected farmers from their miserable situations. Waiver of accumulated debts The scheme of debt waiver and debt relief for farmers is under implementation. Direct agricultural accumulated debt in arrears in scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative credit institutions upto 31st March 2007 and was overdue as on 31st December 2007 has been written off. About 3.68 crores farmers have been benefited involving a debt waiver of Rs. 65,318.33 crores. Subsequently, the waiver scheme has been extended to the fishing sector also increasing the allotment to 71,000 crore. Packages Relief packages including rehabilitation of affected farmers were implemented for farmers of 31 draught affected districts from different states which were also suicide prone districts of the country. Special packages for Kuttanad Development with a fund allotment of Rs. 1,840.75 crores for the overall development of agriculture in Kuttanad and package with a total allotment of Rs. 1,190.00 crores have been sanctioned for rejuvenating the agricultural activities in Idukki and the cost of agriculture portion of the package amounting to Rs. 764.00 crores have been sanctioned by the agriculture ministry. Second Green Revolution The various schemes and steps taken by Shri Sharad Pawar to rejuvenate agriculture and to enthuse the farmers have paved the way for a second green revolution.