Govt is committed to checking price rise: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today his government was committed to checking price rise. He said this a day after the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a UPA partner, came down heavily on the Congress-led government for escalating the prices of commodities.

"My government is fully seized of the task of controlling price rise," Singh said, addressing a Congress workers' rally at the Rabindra Sarovar stadium here.

Attributing the price rise to the prevailing drought in some parts of the country to some extent, Singh said: "Now we have been gradually able to come out of such a situation."

In an apparent response to the CPI (M) accusation that the UPA government was diluting the common minimum programme (CMP), the prime minister said his government was running in accordance with the CMP.

He added that 80 per cent of the pledges made in the Congress manifesto had been incorporated in the CMP.

He said Congress President Sonia Gandhi had advised him to ensure that promises made in the CMP were implemented, "and we are acting accordingly".

Listing the successes of his government, the prime minister said in the past seven-and-a-half months, the economy had been strengthened, industrial production augmented, record export achieved and the country's foreign exchange reserve had gone up by another $10 billion.

"Our main task is to fight poverty and solve unemployment problems, and for that agriculture and industrial production would have to be augmented. Our target is also to raise the GDP growth rate to 7 or 8 per cent, achieve a growth of 4 per cent in agricultural production, 10 per cent in industrial output and 15-20 per cent in export," he said.

Singh also said his government was taking concrete steps to further improve relations with Pakistan as well as other neighbours, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

"Our relations with the US and Russia have shown further improvement," said Singh.

The prime minister said all possible efforts had been mounted to sort out the border disputes with China, adding, "Our international image has been brightened in recent times."

Turning to communalism, the prime minister said: "Those bent upon dividing the country on the lines of religion are obstacles to national development."

Singh urged the Congress workers to work seriously to unite the people against the virus of communalism.