Indian PM defends record in parliament

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday defended his record in office as his embattled government looked to revive its fortunes during a new parliamentary session.
Singh pointed to the country's rapid development in recent years as he tried to shrug off a series of corruption scandals that have undermined his personal reputation and led to damaging deadlock in parliament last year.
"The whole world has admired India's economic growth," he told lawmakers. "The government is committed to achieving a growth rate of nine to 10 percent this year."
He again vowed to tackle graft, which many Indians believe has increased as the economy has boomed.
"Nobody will escape the law," he said. "Action has been taken against the wrongdoers as and when there has been credible evidence. The government will do everything to clean public life of corruption."
A corruption scam in which the treasury lost up to $40 billion through the cut-price sale of mobile phones licences in 2008 has become a major challenge for Singh, but he said there was "nothing wrong in the telecom policy".
Inflation and the rising cost of food has been another key issue -- tens of thousands of people protested in New Delhi on Wednesday against surging prices.