New Delhi:
Ahead of hosting a dinner on Sunday night to mark the second year of UPA-II in office, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted that corruption in the government is a concern.
"There is a challenge of good governance. In the past several months the conjunction of several development related to the 2G spectrum, procurement for Commonwealth Games (CWG) have caused concern to the citizens. These are legitimate concerns. We're committed to corrective measures and due processes are already in place," said the Prime Minister while presenting a report card of the government. (
Read: UPA II's report card)
The Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also gave an assurance that the government would prevent scams in future and reduce discretionary and arbitrary use of powers by public officials.
In her brief remarks in "Government of the UPA: Report to the People 2010-11", Gandhi said, "We will take the issue of corruption head on and demonstrate, through actions, and not words, that we mean what we say."
"Transparency, accountability and probity are at the very heart of our governance, our actions and we demonstrate this," the UPA Chairperson also said.
At the same time, she took a veiled dig at BJP for not removing Karnataka Chief Minister over corruption charges, she said, "It is unfortunate that some Opposition parties do not share the same high standards of probity when it comes to their own."
Addressing reporters from his residence, 7 Race Course Road, Dr Singh said the UPA government has offered seven years of political stability, social progress, communal harmony and economic growth.
"Our economy has grown at an unprecedented rate of 8.5% annually in the face of the global economic crisis, rising international energy, fuel prices," the Prime Minister said.
He, however, also said that the government's most immense challenge is to sustain growth while keeping inflation under check.
Addressing the issue of terrorism, the PM said, "Threat of terrorism looms large, we must all stand united in our combined fight against terror, extremism".
The Prime Minister also said that the government has enacted laws that guarantee Right to Education, Information and Rural Employment, and now the government is working on the Right to Food Legislation.
But even as the UPA-II celebrated two years in government, not all were expected to join the dinner hosted by the Prime Minister. The DMK had made it clear that it will only make a token appearance at the function as none of its big leaders will be present there.
DMK's parliamentary leader in Lok Sabha TR Baalu was the only minister from the party who attended the function.
Although invited, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) also decided to skip the dinner. Earlier on Sunday, the BSP said that the government's compensation to Bhatta-parsaul villagers is political theatrics and that Congress is using the incident to fulfill its political ambitions.
(
With PTI Inputs)