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It’s time for a fresh beginning. Taking lessons from past mistakes, we should enter the third decade of the 21st century as a confident nation. In the beginning of the present decade, there was lot of noise about Vision 2020. But the dream remained largely unfulfilled as we have failed to make most of the opportunities that came our way. So, time has come now to rededicate ourselves to nation building.
The task is not easy. Forget about being a leading force in the world, today we are totally engulfed with various domestic issues. The most worrying of them all is the economic situation. Our economy has seized to create demand. As a result all the indicators of prosperity have touched the lowest marks in several decades. Unemployment is sky high. No new investments are being made. So the people are losing their jobs. Growth in sectors like industry and agriculture are nominal to say the least. In such a situation the government is being forced to look towards the public sector undertakings (PSU) to manage fiscal deficit. It shows that the government in no position to make new investments or modernise existing industries. Even the shares of profit-making PSUs are being sold. We have to come out from the present situation. The need of the hour is to make India a favourite destination for investors. If needed, more reformative steps should be taken. People should be taken in to confidence to make them believe that today’s hardships are tomorrow’s opportunities. What is required is to stay on correct path.
Moreover, for decades, India has been facing grave danger from terrorism. Although, we have international support in combating the menace, a couple of countries which are not in favour of India becoming a world leader are still providing safe havens to terrorists. Everyone knows the countries with vested interests in keeping India troubled. With vast international support, we should corner those countries to wipe out this menace from its root.
At the same time, we should rededicate ourselves to solve few problems which we inherited from our past colonial masters. Kashmir is one of those problem areas. Kashmir is an integral part of India. There is no denying that the situation in the valley is not conducive for peace at present. The Kashmiris have some genuine grievances. Without any further delay those grievances should be redressed. Same can be said about Nagaland. Naga people have shown remarkable and praiseworthy patience and composure since the beginning of the present round of peace talks, which began in mid-nineties. It is time now for final settlement of this vexed problem. Hopefully it will be achieved soon and it is sure that once the final settlement comes, Nagaland will make steady progress towards growth.
Two more issues which we should address on war footing. The issues are women safety and Naxal problem. While the Naxalite problem can be tackled by ensuring speedy economic development in backward areas of the country, women safety is real matter of concern. Brutal incidents of rape and molestation are at an all-time high. The Law appears to be ineffective in the face of perverse mindsets. So a double-pronged strategy should be adopted to deal with this problem. Let all these issues be at the top of our resolution for 2020.