Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 14 (IANS) With the government being attacked over a host of issues and its image badly in need of a makeover, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has identified the core governance agenda comprising over a dozen thrust areas and set up a rigorous mechanism to monitor progress on a monthly basis, his office said Wednesday.

The Lokpal bill, which is still embroiled in a national debate, tops the list of identified priority areas.

“After a mid-term review, the prime minister has identified more than a dozen thrust areas. These will form the core of the UPA government’s governance agenda in the near term,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said here.

The PMO has firmed up a mechanism to monitor, on a monthly basis, the progress of government and public sector programmes in these areas.

“The ministries and offices concerned have been requested to give an update in terms of status, milestones and time lines for achievement of targeted indicators, difficulties and any other development which requires coordination by the prime minister’s office,” said the PMO.

The time frame, as conveyed by Pulok Chatterjee, principal secretary to prime minister, envisages: Uploading of ministry’s report - by the 5th day of each month; posting of status and comments on sector side by the 9th day of the month; collation, with comments, into a consolidated monthly report by the monitoring unit and submission to the prime minister by the 12th day of the month.

Report submission by ministries and all subsequent steps till submission of the consolidated monthly report will be done over the Internet/PMO Intranet, said the PMO.

According to the new mechanism, the principal secretary to prime minister has been asked to brief him every month on the progress achieved in these thrust areas.

The prime minister’s directions in respect of each of the thrust area will then be communicated back to the ministries/offices concerned and followed up by the sectoral officer in the PMO.

Besides the Lokpal Bill, the thrust areas identified by the government include electoral reforms, operationalisation of gram nyayalayas, implementation of the eight climate change missions, follow-up on the recommendations of the second administrative reforms commission and coal, power distribution and fertilizer sectors.

The priority areas also include progress on important laws and bills that could have a bearing on the electoral prospects of the ruling party and alliance. These include the proposed public procurement law, the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, the judicial accountability bill and the grievance redressal bill.

The ministries have also been asked to provide monthly updates on progress over the prime minister’s key announcements for the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.

Other key areas identified include malnutrition, skill development training, health insurance coverage under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and the creation and management of cold chain infrastructure for agriculture.