The Hindu

• Two former councillors of Udupi CMC also join the party
• `Programmes for welfare of beedi workers will be strengthened'

Udupi, Apr 18: Union Minister of State for Labour Oscar Fernandes said on Tuesday that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation for economic progress of the country.

He was addressing Congress party workers here. Mr. Fernandes said that Nehru had realised the importance of basic sciences and higher education. Hence the then Government took the initiative to set up the IITs and the IIMs. It was these institutes of higher learning that produced scholars and scientists to give a fillip to the progress of the country.

Nehru had realised that the development of the country required such projects to uplift farmers and the weaker sections of society. Nehru's vision of India aimed at an egalitarian society, where everyone had equal rights and equal opportunities to progress, Mr. Fernandes said.

Earlier, former MP I.M. Jayaram Shetty, and former councillors of Udupi City Municipal Council Amrita Krishnamurthy and Lakshmi Bhat, joined Congress.

Former Ministers D.B. Chandre Gowda, M. Mahadevappa, B. Ramananth Rai and Vasanth Salian; MLAs Gopal Poojary and Abhayachandra Jain; MLCs Pratapchandra Shetty and L. Hanumantaiah; former MP Vinaykumar Sorake, former MLA Gopal Bhandary, and president of the district Congress committee M.A. Gafoor, were present.

Mr. Fernandes told presspersons that the Unorganised Sector Workers' Social Security Bill would be introduced in Parliament shortly.

The programmes for the welfare of beedi workers would be strengthened, he added.