Telecommunications is a vital infrastructure for the development of the economy. We have taken a series of measures to open this sector for private investment and provide a level playing field. We shall announce a new. Telecom Policy soon to achieve a quantum jump in this sector. The Global Mobile Personal Communications service has already been permitted and the iridium project has been launched on November 1, as scheduled. It is worth noting that out of four thousand crore of rupees foreign direct investment inflow in Telecom since 1991, almost fifty percent has come during this year. This is an indication of the immense investment opportunities and the improving investment climate in this sector. Government has often been criticized, and rightly so, for being long on policy pronouncements and short on implementation. We shall endeavour to correct this imbalance. Time-bound implementation of all decisions shall be demanded and obtained. Government shall enforce accountability for laxity and delay. Effective inter-ministerial co-ordination shall be ensured so that important policies are quickly translated into action. You shall not find us wanting in this regard. The sustainability of economic reforms is crucially dependent on equitable distribution of the benefits of growth. We have no doubt that we have to cut through the, volumes of complex regulations which we have accumulated over the last 50 years, reduce political and administrative interference and allow the innate entrepreneurial abilities of the Indian people to flower. The need for a leaner and more efficient bureaucracy, curtailment of Government expenditure, a transparent and targeted. Subsidy regime, and commercially viable public sector cannot be overlooked. We recognize that increased competition brings in greater efficiency, lowers cost of production, and provides more! and better goods and services to consumers. However, the Government also appreciates that a more market-oriented arid. Less regulated regime does not imply an abdication by the State of its responsibility towards the poor and the disadvantaged. Our policies and programmes will adequately reflect both these crucial concerns. Sustainability of reforms in any country is also critically linked to the popular support-base of such reforms. The support-base would be fast eroded if reforms fail to deliver broad-based employment generating growth and make a perceptible dent on poverty. In this context, I am happy to say that reforms in India have indeedy been successful not only in preserving this popular support base but in strengthening it further. In the largest democracy in the world, reforms have no not only stayed on course but also actually accelerated even with changes in popularly elected Governments. This is only an adequate testimony to the popular base of reform. Submit