Agencies/New Delhi


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort to mark the country’s 64th Independence Day in New Delhi yesterday
Embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday used his Independence Day address from Delhi’s rain-drenched Red Fort to insist the government was taking “the strictest possible action” against corruption.
Singh, speaking from a bullet-proof enclosure in torrential monsoon rains, also said that inflation running at nearly 10% was a “problem”, but that solving it “will be our top-most priority in the coming months.”
The 78-year-old prime minister dwelt at length on the problem of graft, which has sapped his government in its second term and tarnished his own reputation as “Mr Clean”.
“Today the world recognises our potential to be one of the major economic powers globally. But the problem of corruption is a big obstacle in such a transformation,” Singh conceded.
While promising that “we are taking the strictest possible action in cases of corruption that have surfaced”, Singh also defended his record, saying that the country was enjoying political stability and fast economic growth.
Despite the challenges posed by rising inflation, Singh also promised a new focus on providing free healthcare and pledged to make India slum-free via an infrastructure-building scheme.
Not yet half-way through his second term as premier, Singh faces fierce criticism from opponents and in the media over apparent drift in the government and its failure to deliver on promises of reform.
He has spent much of the past year managing crises after a string of corruption scandals in the government and the ruling Congress Party.
A former telecom minister in Singh’s government is on trial and another has resigned over the flawed sale of telecom licences in 2008, which could have lost the exchequer up to $40bn, according to the national auditor.
Meanwhile, the former head of last year’s New Delhi Commonwealth Games faces charges of embezzlement, while the chief ministers of two states have stepped down over land and mining scandals respectively.
Singh said there was no “magic wand” to tackle corruption, but he promised to work towards greater transparency, an effective justice system, a new law on public procurement and an ombudsman to probe and prosecute corrupt officials.
“I believe that there is no single big step which we can take to eradicate corruption (and) in fact, we will have to act simultaneously on many fronts,” he said in his speech from the ramparts of the imposing Mughal fort.
Singh will face a public confrontation over corruption today after a famed activist vowed to defy the police and begin a hunger strike demanding a tougher anti-graft law.
Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old devotee of Mahatma Gandhi, said he would stage the fast despite a ban by the police.
As the showdown with Hazare over the hunger strike for a more stringent Lokpal Bill becomes imminent, Singh said the government wanted a bill that created and gave statutory powers to an anti-graft watchdog - Lokpal - to prevent corruption in high places.
“We have recently introduced a bill in parliament to achieve this.
“Now only parliament can decide what type of Lokpal legislation should be enacted.”
Without taking names, Singh referred to Hazare’s indefinite hunger strike over the government’s version of the Lokpal Bill that keeps prime minister and judiciary out of its ambit, and said: “Those who don’t agree with this bill can put forward their views to parliament, political parties and even the press.
“However, I also believe that they should not resort to hunger strikes and fasts unto death.”
Police and soldiers were out in force across India on Independence Day, which celebrates the 1947 end of British rule on the subcontinent.
Security measures were increased in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, as well as Mumbai, where police are probing triple bombings on July 13.
The three co-ordinated explosions killed 26 people and injured 130, but no group has claimed responsibility and detectives have struggled to unearth who was behind the attack.
“Last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai warn us that there cannot be any slip-up in our vigilance as far as the fight against terrorism is concerned,” Singh said, echoing President Pratibha Patil in her address on the eve of Independence Day.
Security was also raised in insurgency-hit Kashmir and India’s seven restive northeastern states including Manipur, where several separatist groups called for a boycott of yesterday’s celebrations.
In Kashmir, a general strike was in force. Separatists enforced the shutdown to protest Independence Day celebrations, which they consider a “black day”.