Manmohan Singh for urgent action to root out left-wing extremism

New Delhi, Apr 21 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday underscored the need for urgent and considered action to root out the left-wing extremism from the country.

Inaugurating the Civil Service Day here, Dr Singh said:

"terrorism and left-wing extremism are challenging the very foundation of the country's democratic and secular polity so there is urgent need for considered action to root out this problem.

"While no quarter can be given to those who have challenged the authority of the Indian State and democratic polity, the fact that extremism flourishing in many of the areas which are under development cannot be overlooked," he added.

Pointing to the widespread feeling that the country has not completely successful in ensuring that the benefits of the development reach the targeted section of the society, Dr Singh said that civil servants have pivotal role to ensure that the benefits of our programmes percolate to the farthest and remotest villages of our country.

Referring to the medium term target of the government to return to annual growth of nine per cent, Dr. Singh said that this goal can be achieved by facilitating the right enabling environment in which enterprise and innovations are encouraged.

He also said that the Civil Services have a major role to play in helping the government to adequately respond to the challenges posed by the globalization.

"Globalization and a more inter-connected and inter-dependent world in which we live in bring both new opportunities and new challenges. The civil servant of today should not only be alive and sensitive to the problems at hand but should also be well equipped to tackle them. This calls for continuous updation and improved training. And since we live in an environment where developments at one place affect what happens elsewhere, civil servants today also need to work with greater coordination with each other," he added. (ANI)