Dear Friends

Millenium mania has gripped the world - if not India - for quite some time now, even though opinion is seriously divided over whether the millenium begins on January 1,2000 or January 1,2001. Experts say 2001 but the public is more at home with a nice whole number and has embraced 2000 or Y2K, to use today's buzzword.

Actually, there is a good reason for the confusion. In the sixth century, a monk named Dionysius Exiguus was asked to prepare a chronology. He made a grievous error: instead of starting time at zero was unknown to Western civilization.

Zero, of course, was the invention of Indian mathematicians sometime in the fifth or sixth century. It was exported out of India by the Arabs who took it to Baghdadfirst and later to Spain. From Spain an, Italian scholar, Leonardo Fibonacci, took it to Europe in the twelfth century. After this, the West embraced the Indian system of numerals, decimals and the concept of zero itself and the rest, as they say, is history. Just imagine if we had patented the zero, India might well have become one of the richest countries of the world!

Such examples of Indian knowledge are numerous. The Iron Pillar in the Qutab Minar Complex was built in the fourth century and is still standing, unrusted and uncorroded. It is an outstanding monument to Indian metallurgical skills. The celebrated Damascus swords used Indian iron. Steel from south India was exported to Europe till about the sixteenth century. And what about rocket and missiles? Tipu Sultan was apparently the first to use modern rockets and these are still on display at the Royal Artillery Museum in England.

What happened to this great knowledge-based civilisation? What happened simply was that our social system based on the principle of exclusion just did not permit the diffusion of knowledge. It permitted burst of excellence but could not harness knowledge for improving the general properity of society. It could create one rust-free iron pillar - that was its strength. It could not creat a second or more - that was its weakness. Knowledge became the exclusive preserve of narrow elite. Nothing was written down or standardised. Secrecy gave power. Access to knowledge was severely restricted or denied. With the obsession with knowledge as an end in itself also came a disdain for things practical. That is why, in comparison with China for example, our civilisation stands out as being more theory-based while theirs stands out for being technique-based.

All this is still of contemporary relevance. Information technology is very much in these days. But as long as software is not available widely and easily in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi or other local languages, it will remain confined to the small English-speaking sections of our society. The localisation of software is what will sustain the IT revolution in India and make a real difference. Knowledge based industries have become the rage. These are important. But they are leading to neglect of what seemingly are non-knowledge based industries, good old industries like steel, capital goods, agro-processing and textiles. let us not perpetuate this distinction between sunset and sunrise industries between knowledge based and non knowledge based research and development just as much as pharmaceuticals and computers.

In fact, it seems to me that what we should be conserned with is the application and diffusion of knowledge and technology throughtout society - in agriculture, in industry, ingovernance and administration. One of the earliest projects Rajiv Gandhi took up personally was the computerisation of railway reservation. This has brought untold benefits to many millions of passengers daily. He launched five technology missions to mobilize the most cost-effective technologies to provide safe drinking water to villages, to immunize expectant mothers and infants, to spread mass literacy, to make India self-sufficient in edible oils and to expand the coverage to telecom services throughtout the country.

We need to capture this sense of adventure and challenge. Just imagine how life would be transformed for over a 100 million farmers of our country if we had a national mission for the computerization of land records and for keeping them up-to-date. A larger social vision and sense of purpose must inform debates on modern technologies. And we must never forget the saying: " technology is the answer, but what is the question?" We must always focus on the question. Technology by itself is not the crucial constraint. Organization is. Management is. the delivery sysstem is. Work methods are..

Two other issues are crucial. first, our achievments in higher.

I the meantime, the state of the nation continues to degenerate. The central Government has hurt the interests of the poor (and the middle class) through its new budget. In the days to come, prices will rise rapidly.

Agriculture is the foundation of our economy. By raising the price of fertilizers, the Government has broken the backbone of farmers. You remember how even when the godowns in the country were full of wheat, it was being imported from other countries. It went as far as importing sugar from Pakistan, when our farmers were unable to sell their sugarcane and had not been paid their arrears. You will also remember that as soon as the results of the previous Lok Sabha elections came, the present Government hiked the prices of diesel, increasing the burden on farmers. Similarly, the funds allocated for rural development, development of land suitable for agriculture, the cooperative and dairy sectors have been cut in this budget. How can the nation progress if the farmers who produce foodgrains are unhappy?

Leave aside improving the life of the people or increasing employment opportunities, even the prices of commodities available at ration shops have been raised. They didn't even spare government officials. The interest they get on Provident Fund has been decreased.

The worst is the free import of items in any quantity. It is a matter of shame that rice, potato, milk, textiles, shoes, oilseeds, millets and pulses figure on the list. What a terrible situation this is. As it is, we already have an unemployment problem here. Educated young people are looking for jobs. As a result of this decision, a few crores more of Indians will lose hobs. India will become a market place for the products of other countries. What greater economic enslavement can there be? All this is being done by those who consider themselves greater nationalists than the others and who raise the slogans of swadeshi.

Any government's success or failures is measured in terms of its intentions and achievements. We have to analyze what it has done to improve the life of the ordinary person. How has it contributed to maintaining unity and harmony in society? How much the country has progressed in the various fields during its tenure.

When we measure the present Government's work against this scale, it becomes clear that it has been unsuccessful. Our elders have taught us that politics is meant for the service of the poor, service of society. We want to breathe life into this kind of politics. Whatever advancement there has been among the dalits, adivasis, women, backward classes and other weaker sections of society, has been the result of the Congress party's endeavours and not because of the hollow sympathy of others. Our struggle for their welfare will never cease.

The Congress party will forever continue to fight against communalism, poverty and unemployment. We will oppose the faulty policies of the present Government and never allow the RSS to succeed. Truth, tolerance and fraternity have always won in the history of the world.

You are the guardians of India's future. You have in you the power to defeat these destructive forces.

Let us together strengthen the great tradition of our country and enter the new century with pride and our heads held high. This is the calling of the times. This is the duty of the day.