There may be a difference of the pace at which India moves, but there should be no doubt whatsoever about the direction in which India is going to move in years to come.

The emergence of India as a major global power is an idea whose time has come.

I have always regard nonalignment as a statement that India's policies, foreign policy will be guided by what I describe as enlightened national interest. That we will make judgments on an independent basis, with the sole concern being what is enlightened India's national interest. In that sense, nonalignment remains as relevant today as it was in the early 1950s.

In a world in which technology is changing at such a fast pace, where demand conditions change very fast, we need to look at a more innovative mechanism to cut down on this rigmarole of many tiers of decision-making processes.

My top most priority is to deal with India's massive social and economic problems, so that chronic poverty, ignorance and disease can be conquered in a reasonably short period of time.

Unity and secularism will be the motto of the government. We can't afford divisive polity in India.

I should like to express our profound gratitude to the Americans of Indian origin. The way they have conducted themselves, the way they have worked hard to carve out a niche for themselves in the Silicon Valley, I think this has also given America a new idea about what India is capable of.