Indian PM for pushing reforms, jobs and investment

New Delhi,May 19 (PTI) Set to begin a new term in
office, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday spoke of
the need for reforms and reverse the slowing down of
investment and employment generation caused by global economic
slowdown.

Shortly after he was elected leader of the Congress
Parliamentary Party paving way for him to become the Prime
Minister for the second term, Singh said, "There is some
slowing down of investment and employment generation. We have
to reverse this. We have to revive growth and make it even
more inclusive."

The Prime Minister said sustaining growth requires new
investment and better management of government finances. This
also "requires reform of the economy... revitalisation of
agriculture and acceleration of industrial development".

After growing by an average annual nine per cent for
the last four years, the Indian economy came under pressure of
the global meltdown and expanded at a slower pace of around
seven per cent in 2008-09.

"...the global economic slowdown has hurt us.," Singh
said. He said he would ask every minister to set time-bound
targets for implementation of the election promises of the
Congress Party and policies of the each ministry. "We will
undertake quarterly review of the programme implementation by
each ministry," he said.

The savings and investment rates have to be kept high
to remain globally competitive in the face of economic
challenges, he said.

Singh said a "historic victory" for the Congress Party
has come with rising expectations. Youth who have voted in
large numbers for the party are in the nature to be
impatient. "They will not tolerate 'business as usual'... They
expect the government to cater to their aspirations," he said.
The Prime Minister said the world is experiencing a
shift in the dynamics of growth from the West to the East. "We
cannot afford to miss this bus now. We cannot afford to lag
behind the rising economies of the East," he said.

He said the Centre would work with state governments
to ensure better implementation of the welfare schemes,
especially the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and
the National Rural Health Mission.

Singh saw five years ahead as a "decisive half decade"
which can be used to reduce poverty, creation of new
employment and devleopment of industrialisation if the growth
of the last five years can be sustained.

"The period ahead could be decisive. We must grasp the
nettle firmly and forge ahead," he said. PTI