PM asks States to bolster food production

Under fire over rising prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked state governments to tackle shortages of essential supplies while promising all possible assistance from the Centre.

“It will never be possible to insulate ourselves from the pulls and pressures of international demand and supply.

The State Governments must forge appropriate strategies to bolster food production and tackle shortages of essential supplies,” he said.

Addressing the first annual conference of the Chief Secretaries, Dr. Singh reaffirmed Centre’s commitment to assist States in everyway it can.

Doing some plain speaking on newer challenges confronting the administrators, the Prime Minister said people today resent “apathy, sloth and corruption in any form and at any level of government more than ever before”.

He said the rising expectations of the people made them impatient with the speed at which results were delivered by the government.

“Governance today has become extremely complex. There is clamour for accountability from all quarters - the legislature, the judiciary and the media,” he said.

Dr. Singh said the experience in the past two years has brought to the fore the importance of food security and the need for containing prices.