Long way to go to banish poverty: PM

India on Thursday admitted the government had a long way to go for accomplishing the task set out by its flagship poverty alleviation programme. The government's ambitious programme to cut poverty, which it calls the "Republic of Work", aims to provide 100 days of employment every year to tens of millions of rural poor. But in January, an independent audit agency slammed the programme, saying inadequate and delayed planning had hurt progress.