The Union Home Ministry has not issued any directive to the State Government either to defer the Amarnath Yatra by one week or for rescheduling the Yatra.

    The Home Ministry has been in touch with the State Government and the Ministry of Defence to ensure all required security arrangements keeping in view the experience of last year’s yatra arrangements and the current years’ security assessments.
 
  

    Shri Pant said various poverty alleviation programmes have been revamped to improve their effectiveness. The committee headed by Prof. Hashim, Member, Planning Commission, has already submitted its recommendations which were in the process of implementation by the Ministry of Rural Development. Shri Pant said the central objective of the plan development since independence has been poverty eradication. Since 1980s there has been a significant increase both in the numbers of such schemes and the outlays for them. In the Ninth Plan Central Sector outlay for Rural Development has been kept at Rs. 42,278 crore. In addition, Rs. 2,790 crore has been earmarked for the purpose from Prime Minister's Special Action Plans. He said in spite of increase in the outlays desired results have not been achieved. This clearly indicates that there is a need for removing the weaknesses and leakages in the delivery system, he said.

    Shri Pant said that in spite of elaborate monitoring and evaluation system in the country, findings are not put to use because the indicators to be monitored have not been clearly brought out. Impact studies have to be designed with a view to making full use of their findings. He pointed out that financial outlays by themselves would not ensure results. Realisation of objectives call for imagination and flexibility. He said if the objectives of the programmes are fully realised there is no reason why poverty cannot be addressed effectively.
 
 

    Talking of immense opportunities for investment in India by virtue of its geographical proximity, friendly bilateral relations, mutual goodwill for each other and India’s very sound and stable economic base as well as Brunei’s plans for diversification of its economy, the Industry Minister said that there were immense opportunities for Bruneian investments in India, enhancement of bilateral trade and setting up of Indo-Brueni joint ventures in the areas of mutual interest.

    Shri Sikandar Bakht gave an overview of FDI in supplementing domestic savings and how the present Government has given further momentum to reforms by liberalisation of FDI entry regulations. He also explained to the Brunei Minister that in the current financial year India has launched second generation of reforms. The first generation of reforms launched in 1991 culminated in 1998-99. He said that India would welcome foreign investment in infrastructure sector like development of ports, roadways and energy sector. It was the 5^th largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and private sector accounted for 75 per cent of the GDP. The Minister said that India would be needing an investment of US$345 billion in the infrastructure sectors in the next 10 years to match the demands. With 7 per cent growth rate of GDP achieved in the last 4,5 years, India today offered unparalleled business opportunities for companies, the Minster added. The Bruneian companies, could therefore, avail of the opportunities by investing and setting up of joint ventures in India for mutual benefits.

    A visual presentation on current status of Indian economy was given. It was explained to the Bruneian delegates that according to a Deutsche Bank and Harvard Business School Surveys India has been rated higher in economy of scale, industrial development and avenues of foreign investments than China.

    The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and lasted one hour.

    Responding to the call of the Union Industry Minister , the Bruneian Minister for Education and Chairman of Brunei Investment Agency Mr. Pehin Haji Abdul Aziz Umar, heading a six-member delegation, said that the main objectives of his visit were to explore and identify the avenues and areas of investment in India and he said that he would be too happy for investing by his country’s government in India for the welfare of the people of India. He also gave an overview of his country’s investment in Association of South East Asian Nations ( ASEAN) countries of which Brunei is a member and how Brunei was increasing its investment in ASEAN. He said that since India was a full dialogue partner of the ASEAN and a participant in the ASEAN Regional Forum process, Brunei would start investing in India as also increase its volume of trade between the two nations.
 
 

    Speaking on the occasion the Industry Minister Shri Sikandar Bakht lauded the role of HCL and appreciated its contribution to the National Defence Funds.
 
 

    The breakup of the contribution is as follows:

FOR PM’S RELIEF FUND

1. DGHS Delhi                  Rs.1,54,440
2. CGHS, Delhi                 Rs.9,60,691
3. NTI, Bangalore             Rs. 44,600                 Rs.11,59,731

FOR NDF

Safdarjung Hospital,          Rs.9,41,615

New Delhi

Dr,RML Hospital,             Rs.6,00,000

New Delhi

LHMC Associated           Rs.3,80,000         Rs.19,21,615

Hospitals, New Delhi

Hospital Services             Rs.1,38,000         Rs. 1,38,000

Consultancy Corpn.   Total                                                             Rs.32,19,346

    Shri Vajpayee said that Rural Development programmes are a collaborative effort between the Centre and the States. The success in jointly implementing the various rural development programmes is an important yardstick by which we should judge the efficacy of Centre State Cooperation. The challenges of rural development differ widely from region to region. This Conference also helps policy makers and senior officers in the Central Government to have a comprehensive feed back from field functionaries i.e. the Project Directors who are the critical interface between the people and the policies. Without the crucial input of which programmes work and which programmes do not-and why, from the grass roots, it is impossible to conduct useful evaluation or revision of policies and programmes, he added.

    Speaking on the occasion, the Minister for Rural Development, Shri Baba Gouda Patil mentioned a few aspects which are critical to the effective functioning of the Project Directors. He said that completion of Below Poverty Line(BPL) Census is of paramount importance. The State Governments have been informed that only the new list of BPL families will be effective from 1^st April, 1999 and not the earlier lists. He also said that the Vigilance and Monitoring Committees at State, District and Block level should be constituted and their meetings should be held regularly. He suggested that the project Directors should not only participate personally but also encourage others to involve themselves effectively in the training programmes. Field awareness of the programme among the target groups should be ensured through appropriate communication measures. He also stressed on promoting transparency in all the activities of the implementing agencies.

    Shri Baba Gouda Patil said that strengthening of DRDAs is an important step in implementing Rural Development Programmes. The earlier practice of providing ad-hoc administrative cost to a separate programme of DRDA administration has been done away with, so that the States can adequately focus on professionalising these agencies. While the programme implementation is essentially done by the Panchayati Raj Institutions, there is scope for the DRDAs to play an effective role by way of coordination from different fronts. Secondly, the success of the programmes also depends on the quality of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. It is the Gram Sabha, the general assembly of the people, which can function as the institution of participative democracy. Shri Patil requested the bankers to come forward and participate positively in the implementation of Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Housing and the credit-cum-subsidy scheme to cover the housing shortage in the rural areas. The development of wastelands through watershed approach should be implemented on a project basis and at the end there have to be quantifiable result that should change the quality of wastelands. DRDAs have a greater responsibility for professionalising wasteland development through scientific, dedicated project implementation mechanism and to achieve the expected results of the projects in a pre-determined time frame, he added.

    Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri K.C. Pant, speaking on the occasion, said that financial outlays by themselves cannot ensure results. Realisation of the objectives calls for imagination and flexibility, and to this end, Project Directors have a pivotal role to play. If the objectives of these programmes are fully realised, considerably reduction in the poverty levels can be expected. Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha said that there should be paradigm shift towards people's participation in implementation of rural development schemes. DRDAs must interact with Panchayati Raj Institutions, Non Govt. Organisations, and the people. Technical institutions at rural level should also be involved. He also stressed on transparency in decision making.