Manmohan reviews work of secretaries

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reviewing the performance of his secretaries, and how they intend to complete their unfinished agenda in the thrust areas identified in February 2005.

The team in the Prime Minister's Office comprises Minister of State Prithviraj Chavan, Principal Secretary TKA Nair, and officials dealing with ministries and departments.

The review comes weeks before the UPA government completes one year in office. Officials said secretaries were being called in groups of five or six.

Each made a separate presentation of 10 minutes, followed by a brief interaction between the officials and Singh.

The Prime Minister's interaction had a dual purpose. One, he got first hand information on the progress made. Two, he was able to meet his secretaries and gauge them, officials said.

The food and consumer affairs department has already made a presentation, while the revenue, commerce and rural development departments are in the queue. Singh is scheduled to meet secretaries of these departments once he returns from Moscow.

The Prime Minister's 6-month agenda for his ministers, released in February, included changes in tax and labour laws, financial sector reforms, review of the foreign direct investment norms and phasing out of some subsidies.

While some tax-related issues were addressed in the Budget, others are likely to be taken up in the coming days.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced his intention to pilot a Bill to simplify tax procedures, and to device a road map for sharing service tax with states. This was also on Prime Minister's agenda.

Besides, moves to reduce the interface between tax payers and revenue officials through computerisation is being actively pursued.

On subsidies, however, there has not been much progress. This is despite the finance ministry's assurances that a plan, acceptable to everyone, will be drawn up.