Govt serious dealing with corruption: PM

The Prime Minister says that the government is very serious about dealing with corruption and the wrong doers will be brought to book, regardless of their positions. Speaking to senior editors of electronic media in New Delhi yesterday, Dr. Manmohan Singh said it is important that self confidence of the nation is not shaken. Dr. Singh asserted that he is ready to appear before any committee including a JPC to probe any corruption case. He said, India is not a scam driven country and this projection by a section of media has tarnished the image of the country.

On 2G scam the government lost up to $39 billion in revenues after firms were awarded telecoms deals at rock-bottom prices in return for kickbacks have caused months of parliamentary paralysis,rocked the ruling coalition, further rattled India's stock markets thus involving former Telecom Minister A. Raja, Dr. Singh said the decision to allocate licenses on first cum first serve basis was exclusively dealt with by the Telecom ministry and the matter was never referred to him or the cabinet.

Manmohan Singh stressed on Wednesday to stay in office to go ahead with reforms, denying a serial of massive corruption scandals had made him a lame duck leader.
Mr singh said "Whatever some people may say, that we are a lame duck government, that I am a lame duck prime minister, we take our job very seriously," Further added that some compromises had to be made in managing a coalition:"We are here to govern, and to govern effectively. Tackle the problems as they arise and get this country moving forward."Prime Minister said he had never thought of resigning halfway, and that his government will run full course to complete the tasks it has been assigned. In reply to a question he said that he would reshuffle the cabinet after the budget session of Parliament.

Dr. Singh was confident that inflation rate will come down to seven percent by the end of this financial year. He said, government is trying to tackle the situation without hurting growth.On reforms, the Prime Minister said that a host of initiatives will be unveiled in the budget to be presented in Parliament on 28th. He charged the opposition with delaying the introduction of crucial bills in Parliament, including amendment of goods and services tax.