Govt has moved 'substantially forward' in curbing graft: PM

 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said government has moved ''substantially forward'' in curbing corruption and improving public services delivery system but acknowledged there is ''still a long way'' to go to ensure transparency, accountability and probity in public life.

Addressing the Conference of Chief Secretaries here, the Prime Minister also expressed confidence that a strong Lokpal law would be enacted soon.

Singh recalled that last year he had emphasised the need for a systemic response that reduced opportunities for corruption in public life and had stated that his government was committed to taking all legal and administrative measures to curb the menace.

"I had also said that we should make full use of advances in modern technology to improve the delivery of our public services system. We have moved substantially forward in these areas in the last one year," he said.

The Prime Minister cited the Citizen's Charter and the Electronic Delivery of Services bills introduced in Parliament last year as examples.

Noting that "unfortunately, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bills could not be passed in the last session of Parliament", Singh said he does hope that the government "would soon be able to enact a strong Lokpal law".

The Prime Minister also referred to the government's plan to frame a law for regulating public procurement, implementing national e-governance plan and providing 'Aadhar' numbers.

"All this builds upon our earlier initiatives such as the Right to Information Act, the Judicial Accountability Bill and the Whistle Blowers Bill. But, we still have a long way to go in our efforts for ensuring transparency, accountability and probity in public life," he said.

Hailing as "creditable" the growth rate of the country's economy at the rate of 8.4 per cent in the backdrop of a crisis-ridden world economy, Singh said that the growth in the current financial year is, however, likely to be lower between 7 to 7.5 per cent in a large measure due to the continuing uncertainty in the global economic environment.

While noting that inflation was a persistent problem during the course of last year, particularly with regard to food items, the Prime Minister said the government took several measures to ease supply constraints that were a cause for rising prices.

"This coupled with the policy of monetary tightening that the Reserve Bank adopted has led to a continuous decrease in inflationary pressure in primary food articles in recent weeks.

"The overall inflation has also eased. But, monetary tightening together with a difficult global economic environment, particularly the lingering Euro Zone crisis, has impacted the rate of growth adversely", he said.

Singh said that the key to controlling inflation in food articles on a sustainable basis lay in increasing agricultural production and productivity in which the "state governments have a crucial role to play".

He also urged states to give more attention to areas such as modernisation of agricultural research and agricultural extension system, public investment in agriculture, and reform of the agricultural marketing system and practices.
The Prime Minister felt there was a need to review and amend the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act to enable farmers to bring their products to retail outlets and also allow retailers to directly purchase from the farmers.

He said this would bring better remuneration to farmers, check wastage and allow competitive prices to prevail in retail markets.