Meet today to review and plan
PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh is starting the new year with a review of the government's performance in 2005. The aim: to set the agenda for 2006. Among the items on the list: labour reforms.
On Monday, Singh will chair a meeting of senior PMO officials to take a close look at the implementation of the government’s National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) and decide on the future course of action.
“Even as over 90 per cent of the NCMP agenda, excluding some of the tricky political assurances that require a broad-based consensus, has been implemented in 2005, several sectors — especially power and agriculture, including labour reforms — are to be high on the government’s priorities in the new year,” a PMO source told HT.
Regarding labour reforms, PMO sources said it was not about hiring and firing but ensuring growth in productivity, leading to increased employment opportunities. The source said after the rather sluggish growth in the power and agriculture sectors in 2005, the PMO’s attention would be focused on interlinked sectors, like coal and mines, and on the enhancement of agro-based infrastructure.
Fiscal reforms and changes in marketing and retail sectors to match the ever-rising demands of the global economy will also be on the agenda.