Think 'out of box' for future policies: PM

In an apparent message to the left parties that have been attacking the government over various policies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today talked about the need for "out of box" thinking, and asserted that issues would have to be judged on "merits rather than in a mechanical or deterministic manner."

Singh, whose government has been particularly criticised by the left recently over its policy on Iran, said that "while we must be guided by the experiences of the past, we need not be constrained by it."

"The world had changed a great deal in the last 15 years, and the international community was ready to accept India as a power," Singh said after releasing the first copy of Indian Foreign Affairs Journal published by the Association of Indian diplomats.