Singh focuses on graft in annual address By James Lamont in New Delhi [image: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (C) greets media representatives after delivering a speech from the ramparts of The Red Fort in New Delhi on August 15, 2011, on India's 65th Independence Day. India's embattled prime minister said that his government was taking the "strictest possible action" to stamp out corruption after a string of recent scandals. "We are taking the strictest possible action in cases of corruption that have surfaced," Manmohan Singh said from the ramparts of New Delhi's 16th-century Red Fort in an Independence Day speech.]
Manmohan Singh<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7ba303f8-c673-11e0-bb50-00144feabdc0.html>, India’s prime minister, devoted much of his annual independence day address on Monday to his administration’s fight against corruption in an effort to reverse eroding support for his Congress party-led coalition. Mr Singh largely avoided mention of India’s rising place in the world in his speech to the nation delivered from the battlements of Delhi’s Red Fort. Instead, he focused on an issue that has dominated national debate over the past year as scams involving the telecoms sector, the Commonwealth Games and the military have rocked public confidence. The 79-year-old premier’s strong emphasis on corruption<http://www.ft.com/Mughal-era%20Red%20Fort> is a tacit sign of the concern his party has over vociferous anti-corruption campaigns led by the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata party, and by social activists. More ON THIS STORY - Comment Economic vulnerability mars Singh’s record<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7ba303f8-c673-11e0-bb50-00144feabdc0.html> - Indian rate rise forecast after output soars<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d45212b8-c4e9-11e0-9c4d-00144feabdc0.html> - Sonia Gandhi in US for medical treatment<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3796c1de-bea0-11e0-ab21-00144feabdc0.html> - Games draft report blames Delhi minister<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aa6486ec-bde2-11e0-ab9f-00144feabdc0.html> - Lex Indian inflation<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/9fc313cc-b7a0-11e0-8523-00144feabdc0.html> Polls published over the weekend in India Today, a weekly magazine, and conducted by Nielsen, the international research company, showed a 5.6 per cent electoral swing away from the ruling coalition over the past year. The same polls showed that, in some states including Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the BJP was the beneficiary of anti-Congress sentiment. Regional parties were also gaining popularity as voters became disenchanted with the political bickering in Delhi. Seventy per cent of respondents said the corruption scandals had tarnished Mr Singh’s image, usually one of probity and national service. Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief of India Today, said support for the government had “evaporated” over the past year. “Public opinion has turned decisively against the Manmohan Singh-led government in the past 12 months,” he said. “For a government that was re-elected to a second consecutive term in office just a little over two years ago, the slide could not have been more dramatic.” However, another poll by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, showed that 38 per cent of Indians would still vote for the ruling coalition, enough to hand it an election-winning lead over the BJP. Mr Singh’s woes are fuelling expectations that Rahul Gandhi<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/71265f1a-aee5-11e0-9310-00144feabdc0.html>, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, may take over the reins of government to boost the Congress party’s chances in the 2014 parliamentary election. Mr Singh tried on Monday to show his government’s determination to tackle corruption at every level of the administration. He said his government did not have a “magic wand” to end widespread graft. But he promised the “strictest possible” punishment for offenders and to strengthen regulators, the judiciary and anti-corruption laws. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/81fa8088-c717-11e0-a9ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UzTGXQ4Z -- DEV BOREM KORUM Gabe Menezes.
