PM advises colleagues to burry differences for growth

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked his cabinet colleagues on Friday to accelerate decision making process to tide over major economic challenges for returning to high growth path.

‘I am instructing all ministries to accelerate their consideration of critical issues where decisions are needed to get the economy moving again,’ Singh said in his ‘message to the nation’ soon after the turmoil-ridden monsoon session of came to an end.

The government must act wherever it can without the benefit of parliamentary guidance, he said, regretting that the monsoon session was wasted because of protest by the main opposition party BJP. ‘We have had one wasted session. I hope Parliament can get back to business in the next session’, he said.

Observing that the country was facing ‘major challenges’ on the economic front, Singh said: ‘We must work hard to ensure that the Indian economy returns to high growth. I have no doubt we can do it.’

He further said: ‘We can rebuild our growth momentum and encourage entrepreneurship by stimulating investment in infrastructure, in power, in roads, ports, railways, and telecommunications.

‘This will send a clear signal to the world that India is on the road to recovery. This in turn will bring back the momentum of growth, generate productive employment and also enable us to direct more resources to help the poor and weaker sections,’ he added. India’s economic growth rate slipped to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12 and according to various reports the growth in the current fiscal is likely to remain subdued. 

The GDP growth for the first quarter for the current fiscal stood at 5.5 per cent. 

Singh said it would be difficult to achieve higher growth if the government is constantly distracted by ‘actions of those who prefer obstruction over discussion.’ 

He further said that those who follow obstructionist policy ‘unwittingly [are] only serving the ends of those who want to weaken the country and discredit its institutions’.

The priority of the government, according to Singh, would be to grapple with the problems of mass poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions of citizens. ‘We will not be distracted from this task,’ he added.