SPEECHES / STATEMENTS 

PM's address at the presentation of PM’s trophies for best performing steel plants

February 15, 2010, New Delhi

“I am very happy to associate myself with this small but very meaningful function. We live in an age where steel is a major input into the development processes of any country. It is said that nearly 50 per cent of all investment in almost every economy consists of construction activities and construction is nothing else in the modern age but steel and cement.

It is, therefore, very important that India should have a most modern, a most efficient steel industry. These are the main temples of achievement about which Jawahar Lal Nehru spoke so eloquently. And we have to ensure that these temples of achievement of inspiration continue to upgrade on the frontiers of science and technology. I am, therefore, very glad to notice the achievements of Bhilai, the achievements of Visakhapatnam. Visakhapatnam at one time was being described as a sick plant that it has turned corners, I think that’s a ray of hope for all our captains of industry that given purposeful leadership that nothing is beyond the dreams of our country. We have done well. We are on the move but we have a long arduous journey ahead of us.

The per capita consumption of steel in our country is about 46 kgs whereas the global average is about 190 kgs. So that is a measure of the distance that we have to travel. And the steel industry and the captains of industry who are involved in the management of steel industry have to find new pathways to achieve the ambitious targets which we must set for our steel industry and also to ensure that these targets are met through most efficient, most competitive techniques of production.

Virbhadra Singhji referred to the need for our steel industries to remain mindful of the imperatives of the climate change of the need to minimize the outflow of CNG gases and I will only endorse that India has to move towards a low carbon economy. Therefore, all our industries including the steel industries must put all the wisdom, knowledge and experience at their disposal to work out a time profile of how this country can move towards a low carbon economy. I have already asked the Planning Commission to set up a Group which would work out these pathways. We have, as you know also, developed a national action plan for climate change. Eight national missions have been identified and we sincerely hope that the steel industry would be an important contributor to the evolution towards our movement towards a low carbon economy. With these words I once again congratulate all the captains of industries particularly those who have won these laurels and very best congratulations you have done well but I sincerely hope that the best is yet to come. We can not afford to rest on our laurels, we have in many way to reach a stage of development where poverty, ignorance and disease will be a forgotten thing. The only way for this country to register a growth rate of 9 to 10 per cent per annum and it is also obvious that if India needs to solve its unemployment problems, industrialization is a must and rapid industrialization of our country in which steel will be in any strategy of development, a prominent partner I think is a major of the challenge that awaits our steel industry in years to come.

I sincerely hope that our steel industry given the wise leadership that it has, given its past performance, will live up to the expectations of our people and that together we will rewrite a new chapter in the history of steel industry in our country. With these words I once again congratulate all those who have won laurels for our steel industries, the management of Bhilai, the management of Visakhapatanam Steel plant. My very best wishes for your future prosperity, for the growth of this very vital industry of our economy.”