Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Sunday that “the time was right to move decisively to curb corruption in public life and improve the processes of governance”.

He also said the “immediate challenge before the government was to sustain high growth while keeping inflation in check”.

Addressing a two-day conference of governors that concluded here, the prime minister said: “The government was committed to take all possible measures to curb corruption in administration and deliver good governance to the citizens.”

Stating “efforts for rapid progress and development can have their full impact only if corruption is curbed,” the prime minister urged the state governments “to enact a law to bring more transparency and accountability into procurement systems” on the lines of the centre.

Observing that “high food inflation has been a particular cause for worry in the recent months”, the prime minister said in the long term the “key to tackling rising food prices lies in increasing productivity and production in agriculture and allied sectors”.

“We need a second green revolution that is inclusive,” he said.

Talking about the challenges to the maintenance of law and order and controlling terrorism and Left wing extremism, he stressed the need to check Left wing extremism from spreading to additional areas of country.

“Better policing and development have to be twin engines of a coordinated strategy to curb Left wing extremism,” said the prime minister.

He asked the governors to take active interest in pursuing development plans of scheduled areas besides toning up quality of higher education, in their capacity as chancellors of universities.

Making a mention of ragging in educational institutes, the prime minister said governors have a special responsibility to root out this menace.