Time to reverse mood of negativism: PM

Refutes contention of some CMs crying discrimination

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday stressed the need to guard against a mood of negativism that appears to be gripping the country,called for collective efforts to reverse this mood,and asked political parties to strike a balance between adversarial positions on issues and cooperation on a long-term national agenda.

Addressing the 56th meeting of the National Development Council,attended by chief ministers,Singh said,We must guard against the mood of negativism that seems to have gripped the country. It is our collective responsibility to reverse the mood of negativism today. We can either become victims of negativism,criticising ourselves all the way,or work together to put ourselves firmly in the group of rising economies.

The NDC set a 9 per cent growth target for the 12th Five Year Plan period.

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Singh said elected governments can deliver only if,once elections are over and the government is formed,the political process works to allow the government to function in a manner where the needs of longer term development do not become hostage to short term concerns. What this means is that parliamentary parties have to strike a difficult balance between maintaining adversarial political positions on many issues,while also cooperating to advance longer term national agenda. This balance is not easy to strike, he said.

He said it is of vital importance that democratic institutions like the executive,judiciary,parliament and state legislatures,and constitutional and regulatory authorities,understand and play their roles constructively.

He refuted the contention of some chief ministers against discriminatory treatment. If there is a perception of discrimination,it is a perception and not based on reality.

Endorsing the concerns of certain chief ministers that flexibility has to be ensured within the funding mechanism of the flagship programmes,the Prime Minister said the B J Chaturvedi Committees report in this connection would be deliberated upon and the outcome would be incorporated in the 12th Plan.

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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee urged the chief ministers to shun populism to help the country move on the path of reforms. As politicians we like to win elections… But our own election victory must never take precedence over Indias victory, he said,listing pending reforms such as introduction of the Goods and Services Tax and the Direct Taxes Code. While there may be some moderation in growth in the current fiscal,the fundamentals of the economy are intact and the medium-term growth prospects remain buoyant, he said.

Conceding that the Europe crisis in Europe and the US slowdown are impacting India,Mukherjee said when the world sneezes,India runs risk of catching a cold.