Addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session, the President reiterated the government's commitment to disinvest a substantial portion of equity in enterprises such as Indian Airlines, Air India, ITDC, IPCL, VSNL, CMC, Balco, Hindustan Zinc and Maruti Udyog and said the government equity in non-strategic PSUs will be brought down to 26 per cent or even lower.

Stressing that reforms in the power sector were crucial, the President said, "We have set a target of installing an additional capacity of 100,000 megawatts by 2012, along with the associated taransmission and distribution systems." This will require an investment of around Rs 800,000 crore, he said, and asked the state governments, all political parties and consumers to support reforms in the power sector.

The President said in view of the daunting challenges that India faced in a highly competitive global market, there was a growing recognition that amendments to some of the labour laws could not be delayed any more. These amendments, he said, were pro-labour because they will facilitate greater employment opportunities to both the organised and unorganised sectors.

By doing so, the President said, India could command a significant competitive advantage in the international labour market in labour intensive industries like garments, light engineering, toys, handicrafts, leather and IT-enabled services.

Pushing forward the reforms agenda, the President said there was already a growing national consensus on this issue. This consensus needed to be broadened and strengthened further, guided always by the criteria of whether or not specific policy changes promoted the interests of the country and the common man, he added.

Touching a host of issues, including agriculture, power, oil, coal, textiles and exports, among others, the President exhorted the MPs to clear the financial and other business in Parliament. "The people who have elected you have a high expection that the precious time of Parliament is best used for the completion of the scheduled business."

He asked the government to set an ambitious target of nine per cent annual growth for the next 10 years to double the per capita income and halve poverty in the country. India was among the 10 fastest growing economies in the world with the economy growing at impressive annual rates of between 6 and 7 per cent during the past three years. "This, despite formidable challenges on the external front, as well as droughts, floods and other natural calamities in several parts of the country," he added.

Referring to railways, the President said it had suffered from long years of neglect. "Their finances are in a critical state, rendering them unable to implement many long-pending development projects. The railways needed an estimated Rs 15,000 crore to take care of its needs. "There is a great untapped potential for the railways to raise internal resources through non-traditional means," he added, obviously giving boost to Ms Mamata Banerjee's "no fare raise" move.

Seeking a higher public and private investments in agriculture, the President asked the government to realise the four per cent growth set for agriculture in the national agriculture policy announced last year.

Mr Narayanan said to protect the farmers against unfair global competition, import duties were increased on many agricultural commodities, including edible oils. The government has begun phased decontrol of sugar now, he added.

Calling for faster modernisation of India's physical infrastructure, Mr Narayanan said critical bottlenecks remained in several areas. He was happy, however, that the government had resolutely pursued reforms in the telecom sector and the results were now visible in the form of reduced tariffs.

Lauding the role of IT in the growth of the country's economy, the President said software exports, which were four billion dollars last year, are continuing to grow at an impressive annual rate of over 50 per cent, "giving us the confidence that the target of $50 billion by 2008 is certainly achieavable".

The President commended the government decision to ban all forms of tobacco advertising.