With his government under attack over rising prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday bluntly told the states that they should use all instruments in their command to make available essential commodities to the poor and command man at reasonable prices.
Addressing first annual conference of State Chief Secretaries here, he, however, maintained it must be recognised that in a globalised world it will never be possible to insulate the country from the pulls and pressures of international demand and supply.
Singh also utilised the occasion of the two-day conference to ask the bureaucracy to tone up its functioning and to stress the need for tackling terrorism, insurgency and extremism with a firm but effective and sensitive hand.
"The importance of making the public distribution system strong and efficient for making essential commodities available to the poor and to the comman man at reasonable prices cannot be over emphasised.
"There are many instruments at your command and it is expected that you should not be found wanting in their judicious use. On behalf of the Central government, I would take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to assist States in every way we can in all these and other areas," he said.
He asked state governments to devise strategies to bolster food production and tackle shortages of essential supplies.
Singh said there was great scope for improvement in the productivity of major crops and hoped to see greater efforts in achieving it.
On the price situation, Singh said the experience in the past two years has brought to the fore importance of food security and the need for containing prices.
"For some time past, there was, if I may say so, a false sense of security that availability of food has ceased to be a concern. Similarly many felt that we have been able to control prices," he said adding growing population and higher levels of living necessitated augmentation of food supplies.
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.
The Prime Minister said it was one of the primary responsibilities of any government to ensure the rule of law and an atmosphere of peace and communal harmony for rapid economic growth.
"The law and order machinery has to be sensitized to the key security concerns that affect us. Terrorism, insurgency and extremism need to be tackled with a firm but effective and sensitive hand," Singh added. PTI
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