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While China turns to partial lock down in the lead up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, India last Saturday celebrated her 62nd year of independence. The two anniversary celebrations cannot be more different.

China is starting to restrict entries to foreigners; particularly journalists during their anniversary and other sensitive parts of the country, like Tibet, Xinjiang and Beijing. Media access will be restricted with military and police presence likely to be overwhelming. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are blocked, as are video sharing services such as You Tube.

In moves that would bring down the government in India, human rights lawyers in China being detained and barred from practice. There have been Chinese protests in Australia against the screening of a documentary on the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer. India meanwhile has had to endure comments from a quasi China government backed website calling for the nations dismemberment in order to protect Chinese interests.

When I mention that You Tube and Twitter are blocked and internet access is restricted in China, friends and colleagues in India just laugh. Paranoia, a nanny state, and a disbelief that people would tolerate a one party state- although Indians of course endured their version under the British Raj- brings a knowing raised eyebrow that the Chinese are, well, perhaps potentially unpredictable.

The unpredictability, Indians feel, represents a danger. When one contrasts the build up to the Chinese anniversary and the Indian one, its hard not to see that particular point of view may have some merit. While we have to wait for the pomp and circumstance of the Chinese anniversary, we have been promised a massive military parade which apparently includes a display of ballistic nuclear weapons.

Well also have to wait for the political rhetoric to justify that, but no doubt national security and a whole hearted assault on people to be patriotic towards the Communist Party will be very much in evidence.

Those issues gives a cause for concern when Chinese anniversary preparations are compared against the preparations that occurred in Delhi on Saturday. China intends to command its people to be loyal to the party for the benefit of national security and a harmonious society. On the other hand, Indias Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, had to justify to the Indian people why his party were in power and what they intend to deliver to the people of India.

In terms of the actual event, it began by Dr. Singh paying homage to the man considered the nations father, Mahatma Gandhi, at the Gandhi memorial. The PM then traveled to the Mughal-built 17th century Red Fort in Delhi and unfurling the Indian national tri-color flag from the rampart of Lal Quila. He then gave his speech, the highlights of which we discuss below.

Around 700 people, including school children clothed in the national flag as well as political VIPs and diplomats, packed the enclosure facing the Fort. There was no display of nuclear or military might; largely because the Indian government does not require such statements to be made to its own people. The Indian government retains their own confidence purely in the system of elected government, although the Prime Minister did inspect the Indian honor guards lined up to meet him.

In terms of Dr. Singhs speech to the nation, it represents his promise to the Indian electorate, and the words that his party will be held accountable in next three and a half years. This is different to Chinas own National Day, where the onus is on following the Party line.

Below are notes on the highlights of Dr. Singhs speech addressing various categories:

General Promises to the People

* Nation building will be our highest duty;
* No one will go hungry;
* Will ensure that benefits of development reach all sections of society and all regions and citizens of the country;
* Every citizen of India should be prosperous and secure and be able to lead a life of dignity and self respect;
* Special care to be taken of needs of women and children. Benefit of ICDS (integrated child development services) to be extended to every child below the age of six by March 2012;
* Government should be sensitive to peoples complaints and dissatisfaction but nothing is achieved by destroying public property and indulging in violence. The government will deal firmly with people who indulge in such acts;
* Seek active partnership of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the development process;
* Schemes for the welfare of the minorities to be taken forward;
* Funds enhanced substantially for special schemes for development of districts with concentration of minorities;
* Will take care of the special needs of the backward regions with redoubled efforts to remove regional imbalances;
* Special efforts to strengthen administrative machinery for rural programs;
* Benefits of good programs will not reach the people till the government machinery is corruption free. Public administration to be more efficient;
* Need to improve delivery systems to provide basic services to citizens;
* Renewed efforts to decentralize public administration through Panchayati Raji (de-centralized) institutions and to ensure greater involvement of people;
* Initiative will be taken for a new partnership between civil society and the government so that tax payers money is better spent;
* Right to Information Act to be improved to make it is more effective and enhance accountability and transparency.

Financial

*Restoring growth rate to 9 percent is the greatest challenge we face. We expect that there will be an improvement in the situation by the end of this year;
*Appeal to businessmen and industrialists to join in effort to tackle difficult situation and fulfil their social obligations.

Agriculture and  Food

* This year, there has been deficiency in the monsoon. We will provide all possible assistance to our farmers to deal with the drought;
* Date for repayment of farmers bank loans postponed. Additional support given to farmers for payment of interest on short term crop loans;
* We have adequate stocks of food grain. All efforts will be made to control rising prices of food grain, pulses and other goods of daily use;
* Country needs another Green Revolution. the goal is four percent annual growth in agriculture; achievable in the next five years;
* Food security law to be enacted under which every below poverty line family will get a fixed amount of food grain every month at concessional rates.

Medical

* National Rural Health Mission to be expanded to cover every family below the poverty line;
* No need to panic in the face of H1N1 flu. No disruption of daily lives.

Education

* Right to Education Act enacted, funds will not be a constraint;
* NREGA (national rural education guarantee act) program to be improved to bring in more transparency and accountability;
* Special attention to be given to the needs of disabled children;
* Secondary education will be expanded to ensure that every child in the country benefits;
* Bank loans and scholarships to be provided to the maximum number of students;
* New scheme to help students from economically weaker sections get educational loans at reduced interest rates; will benefit about five lakh students in technical and professional courses.

Housing

* Additional funds allocated for Bharat Nirman (rural housing) program for the development of rural and urban areas to be speeded up;
* Rajiv Awas Yojna (a slum free India in 5 years) program is now being launched.

National Infrastructure

* Accelerated efforts to improve physical infrastructure; construction of 20 kilometers of national highways every day;
* Railways have started work on dedicated freight corridors;
* Road, rail and civil aviation projects being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states will be specially monitored.

Energy, Environment and Climate Change

* India will meet the challenge of climate change through eight national missions;
* The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, aimed at increasing the use of solar energy and making it affordable, will be launched on Nov 14;
* Need a new culture of energy conservation;
* More attention to programs for water collection and storage. Save Water should be one of our national slogans.

Security

* Security forces being constantly upgraded to root out terrorism;
* Redoubled efforts to deal with militant activities. Will extend all help to the state governments to make their police forces more effective;
* Those who think that they can seize power by recourse to the gun do not understand the power of our democracy;
* Will endeavor to remove those causes of social and economic dissatisfaction which give rise to problems like Naxalism (separatist group);
* Bill to prevent communal violence has been introduced in parliament and efforts will be made to convert it into a law as soon as possible;
* Recommendations of the committee on ex-servicemens pensions accepted; this will benefit 1.2 million retired soldiers and JCOs;
* Unique Identification Authority of India set up. First set of identity numbers expected to be available in the next one to one-and-a-half years.

Womens Rights
* Feticide is a shame on all of India. We must eliminate it;
* Government is committed to the early passage of the Womens Reservation Bill;
* Working on legislation to provide 50 percent reservation for women in rural and urban local bodies;
* National Female Literacy Mission to be launched; aims to reduce female illiteracy by half in three years.

Regional Concerns

*Government constantly endeavoring to make the northeastern states equal partners in the countrys progress; without their well-being, the country cannot move forward;
* There have been two elections in Jammu and Kashmir in the past year - for the state assembly and the Lok Sabha (Parliament) with the people participating vigorously. This is proof that there is no place for separatist thought in the state;
* Will endeavor to ensure that human rights are respected in Jammu and Kashmir and all its citizens are able to live in peace and dignity in an environment of safety and security;
* Want to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors. Will make every possible effort to create an environment conducive to the social and economic development of the whole of South Asia.

Dr. Singhs speech dealt with specific development issues. One has to bear in mind that because of  Indias independent media, his government will be called upon and questioned in the event they do not perform to any of the intended goals. In contrast, criticism of the government in China by state-controlled media is very rare. Consequently, the monitoring of government performance in China remains inadequate, while in India, press freedom means that government criticism is loud and ongoing, tempered only by elections.

Of the issues that Dr. Singh mentioned, several stand out in contrast to the expected Chinese rhetoric. In terms of government administration, the Prime Minister mentions that greater communication and dialogue would take place between the government and social organizations for better understanding of grass roots issues. The difference here is that grass roots organizations are managed by citizens in India and not government bodies. Of note in particular is the onus on such citizens bodies being able to overview and provide input into how the local government allocates its taxes.

In China, such mechanisms would be considered subversive. It is hard to imagine a Chinese government official tolerating such behavior. When occasionally attempted in China, such individuals are usually jailed and sent for re-education in labor camps. Also worth noting are several comments devoted  to Indias minorities, and specifically the acknowledgment that the country must do more to distribute wealth.

Part of the problems in Xinjiang, and to a lesser degree in Tibet in China has been to do with not enough wealth being spread areas by the Chinese government, who continues to specifically describe and name its minorities. In Dr. Singhs speech, he  does not mention specific tribes or races, and refers to them all as Indians. Dr. Singh also spent specific time of the issue of womens rights. China generally does not feel the need to do so, yet female infanticide still remains a serious issue in Chinas own rural areas.

A crucial difference between India and China is that Dr. Singh also talks of strengthening the Freedom of Information Act, in order to increase government transparency and accountability to the people of India. It is hard to imagine Hu Jintao making such a statement.