Outlining a seven-point strategy for higher economic growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the challenge for reforms is to "breathe a new life into government."
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Identifying seven priority sectors -- agricutlure, water, education, health care, employment, urban renewal and infrastructure -- Singh, in his first Independence Day address, said: "These saat sutras (seven principles) are the pillars of the development bridge we must cross to ensure higher economic growth and more equitable social and economic development."
At the same time, he asserted that "the challenge for economic reforms today is to breathe new life into government so that it can play a positive role where it must."
"The real challenge for me and for the government at all levels is the challenge of implementation of our stated policies and programmes," Singh said and added, "today, I have no promises to make, but I have promises to keep."
Emphasising that Central, state and local bodies must work in tandem for the government to be an effective instrument of development, he said the concerns of most citizens revolve around action on the front of agriculture, water, education, health and employment.
"Dealing with the problem of water is an important commitment we have made as part of our new deal for rural India," he said. "This new deal must encompass investment in irrigation, credit delivery, availability of electricity, primary
education, rural roads and modernisation of farm sector infrastructure," Singh said.
Taking a leaf out from the National Common Minimum Programme, Singh said progress in major infrastructure sectors like power, roads, railways, ports and airports would be "critical" to development.
Although committed to "widen the space" available to private enterprise and individual initiatives in tune with economic reforms aimed at ending the stranglehold of bureaucracy, he said governments could not be wished away, especially in developing countries like India where it has an important role to play.
"There are areas in which the government has to be actively engaged like education, health care, roads, railways, high technology and defence.
"However, for government to be able to deliver results, we must reform the functioning of the government. We have to make officials accountable -- make government more transparent. We have to make government more efficient," Singh said.
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