To push 100-day agenda, Manmohan asks team PMO to 'think creatively'

Determined to make his government's 100-day agenda a success, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday told his aides to "think creatively", guided by the ethic of "equity, innovation and public accountability".

In a meeting with officers at South Block, the prime minister discussed the new agenda before the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and ways to improve delivery of various schemes and programmes, according to an official statement.

"The prime minister reiterated the need to think creatively on the agenda put forward by the government and stressed on the need to be guided by the watchwords of equity, innovation and public accountability in the work of the office," the statement said.

Manmohan Singh also discussed the follow-up measures listed to be initiated within the first 100 days and the pending reform of regulatory institutions in the areas of health and education, while calling for a rethink systems of monitoring and evaluation.

He had recently written to his cabinet colleagues asking them to focus on the priorities and programmes outlined in President Pratibha Patil's recent address to the joint sitting of parliament.

The prime minister had also exhorted them to plug "leakages" in their implementation and focus on good governance and delivery systems. He said even junior ministers must be given adequate work to instil in them a sense of involvement and ownership.

"I do not have have to labour the point that we must give due consideration to the views of the opposition and seek to work together for the collective wellbeing of our people," the prime minister's letter said.

The UPA government's ambitious second-term agenda includes providing foodgrain at Rs.3 per kg to poor families, enlarging the scope of job guarantee programme in rural areas and thrust on infrastructure development to prime up the economy.

Last updated on Jun 11^th, 2009 at 17:26 pm IST--IANS