India, Feb. 3 -- Amid great rejoicing, thousands of people here today witnessed Dr Rajendra Prasad inaugurate the first blast furnace in the public sector.

As the molten iron, matching the crimson setting sun, poured out of the furnace the President said: "May the bellows of this plant herald the new age we are so eager to usher in."

"Rourkela, Bhilai and other projects are no more than symbols of our aspirations; if you like I may call them the means of achieving the end which we have set for ourselves. We are determined to create a welfare State in this country," he said.

"The establishment of basic heavy industries like the one I am inaugurating today signifies a stage in our journey to that destination."

He said he felt that with ...