availability of better health care facilities in the country, there is a need for a balanced regional distribution of medical colleges and these need to be given functional autonomy so that they can flourish.

Flagging off mobile medical units for 17 districts of Assam, Dr. Singh lauded the effort and said that this will take medical care to the doorstep of the common man. Dr. Singh also announced that the Central Government will provide Rs. 480 crore to set up three medical colleges and hospitals at Jorhat, Tezpur and Barpeta in Assam. Rs. 160.64 crore will be spent to set up the medical college at Jorhat, the fourth one of its kind in the state. Its doors will be opened to patients in January 2009 and classes for 100 aspiring doctors will commence in 2010.

On the second day of his visit to Assam, Dr. Singh laid further emphasis on the need to improve education. This time, he stressed on technical education and called it the key to enhancing the nation’s growth and the formation of highly skilled manpower. Addressing the gathering at IIT Guwahati, Dr. Singh said, “India has the potential to create 500 million trained people by the year 2022. This big opportunity for India will come from an educational revolution that we must undertake as our most important national endeavour.”  He revealed that the 11th Plan will focus on knowledge and it will facilitate the expansion of education all the way from the grassroots level. Dr. Singh also mentioned the execution of an Integrated Knowledge Network which will connect institutions of higher learning through multiple nodes and enable them to carry out interdisciplinary research within the country. He urged the students to make full use of the IIT as a source of knowledge and self betterment as the country expects them to use their creativity for themselves and the society.

Though he was scheduled to address a public meeting at Nagaon, this had to be cancelled due to bad weather which made it impossible for the Prime Minister’s helicopter to land in the area.

Apart from education, the Prime Minister also appealed to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to give up the path of insurgency and join the national mainstream and to work for the social and economic development of Assam. Here, Dr. Singh very articulately said, “Power in a democracy flows from ballots and not bullets.”      

E P Desk