PM calls for investment to tide over difficult situation

Underlining that the country's economy is passing through difficult times, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today stressed the need for increasing investment across sectors and creation of an enterprise and investment-friendly climate.

He said the country was facing only a temporary downturn that "we should correct as quickly as possible". "I wish to emphasise the need for boosting investment across sectors to help us emerge from the existing difficult situation," he said inaugurating the 8th Civil Services Day function here.

The prime minister said the government has taken a major initiative in setting up the Cabinet Committee on Investment for fast-tracking industrial and infrastructural projects.

"The committee has made encouraging progress. But much more needs to be done, especially for building a climate that is perceived to be friendly to enterprise and investment," he said, asking bureaucrats to give maximum possible attention to it.

Singh said in the last two decades or so, the role of the government has undergone a major transformation in many sectors of the economy. "We have moved far away from the command and control economy of the earlier times. Ensuring good governance and managing the economy today are complex tasks."

"How to ensure that our civil services have the required sets of skills to manage this complexity is a major challenge before us. I would urge you to consider ways and means of meeting this challenge," he said. He also stressed on the need for the bureaucrats to be innovative and enterprising so as to ensure rapid growth for the country.

Direct cash transfer
The prime minister added that the Centre's ambitious direct cash transfer scheme would help in better targeting of subsidies and reducing delay in delivery of benefits, besides curbing wastage and leakage.

He also said the government needs to make full use of new and modern technology not only in delivery of public services but in governance in general.

"A good example of such use is the Aadhar programme for providing all the residents of our country a unique identity, and also the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme based on Aadhar numbers that our government launched a few months back."