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India PM blames lack of political consensus for slow growth

Our Correspondent, New Delhi
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday blamed the absence of political consensus for the slowdown in the country's economic growth and promised to ramp up the economy through new investments and management of government finances.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of Independence Day, he said, "as far as creating an environment within the country for rapid economic growth is concerned, I believe that we are not being able to achieve this because of a lack of political consensus on many issues".
"Time has now come to view the issues which affect our development processes as matters of national security", he said adding "if we do not increase the pace of the country's economic growth, take steps to encourage new investment in the
economy, improve the management of government finances and work for the livelihood security of the common man and energy' security of the country, then it most certainly affects our national security".
Singh vowed that
substantial contribution to our economy”, the prime minister said.
Uis remarks come at a time when the Indian economy, after registering rapid rise in the last decade, has shown signs of a slowdown in the last one year
the government would "work hard for India's rapid economic growth and for shielding the country from the effects of the global economic slowdown by creating new employment opportunities for young men and women living in villages and cities and securing the livelihood of our poor brothers and sister, our workers and our farmers”.
"We will leave no stone unturned to encourage investment in our country so that our entrepreneurs can make a
and projections for the current fiscal year (2012-13) is being scaled down amidst rising inflation.
There is a lack of consensus among the parties, including those in ruling Congres-led UPA, about bold economic reforms like allowing foreign direct investment in multi brand retail and pension fund and banking and insurance sectors.
Singh said the inflation has to be controlled. "This would pose some difficulty because of a bad monsoon this year. However, we have taken
many measures to deal with the situation".
He said India has "a big stock of food grains because of the hard work of our farmer brothers and sisters, and availability of food grains is not a problem for us”.
The prime minister said the economic growth in the current year will be a little better than the 6.5 percent of last year.
Singh promised to reduce corruption in public life and sought the cooperation of political parties to pass Lokpal and Lokayukta (anti-graft ombudsman) Bills in parliament.
The prime minister said India's defence forces are ready to meet any challenge and their modernisation will continue.
Security in the Indian capital was enhanced several times over for the Independence Day celebrations as thousands of armed security personnel kept a hawk-eyed vigil to preempt any possible terror strike.