NREG may not banish poverty, but reduce harsh impact: PM

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) Reminding the civil servants that they are no longer looked upon as ''mai baap'' (masters), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked them to be agents of social change and acknowledged that the much-touted rural job guarantee scheme may not banish poverty but only mitigate the sad plight of the poor.

''The old notion of government servant as 'Mai Baap,' I think, must replace itself by government servants becoming one of the principal agents of social change,'' Dr Singh said in his address to the IAS probationers belonging to the 2006 batch.

Asking the civil servants to focus on implementing the Centre's ''five or six very important development programmes,'' including the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme, he said if implemented carefully NREG plan would ensure that each rural family get at least Rs 6,000 a year.

''We may not abolish poverty, but we would have succeeded in softening the harsh edges of extreme poverty'' by implementing it across the country from the present 330 districts, he said.

The Prime Minister told the probationers that it was necessary that they had a deep knowledge of agriculture and rural economy so that they could remain in touch with the grassroot realities.

While civil servants were no longer masters, the makers of the Indian Constitution had entrusted with them the responsibility of taking the nation forward on the path of a long-term vision.

The founding fathers of the Constitution had ''recognised that although India is designed to be a functioning democracy, in true democracy competitive politics often creates an environment where political masters are not able to take a long term view of the country's needs, its prospects, the direction in which it ought to go and how we can steer the country in that direction.'' ''And therefore, if we cannot rely upon political class to perform this function as the conscience keepers of our country's value system, then where do we look for,'' he asked and went on to point out that the obvious solution was the Indian Administrative Service and allied Central Services.

Dr Singh said that at a time when fissiparous tendencies and regional and caste sentiments were gaining ground, it was very necessary that the administration did nothing to hurt the unity and integrity of the country.

''There are very many times the States' interests clash and there are mechanisms provided in our Constitution to deal with those conflicts of interest. For that it is very important that those who will be in charge of the Administration of our country must not lose sight of this wider perspective of doing everything in our power to strengthen the unity and integrity of our country,'' he said.

UNI