New Delhi: The Cabinet tonight (May 28, 2004) adopted the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) as the "National Common Minimum Programme" (NCMP) and decided to set up a National Advisory Council (NAC).

At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it decided to set up NAC with a chairperson with the rank of a Cabinet Minister and 20 members to be appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the effective implementation of the NCMP.

With a view to implementing the programme effectively, each Ministry would be expected to work out modalities along with financial implications, an official release said after a 90-minute meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Ministries would, in consultations with the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Legal Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Justice, work out the roadmaps along with proposals for legislations for implementation and seek approvals at appropriate levels of the Government.

Each Ministry would develop its own periodical monitoring and reporting mechanism subject to overall directions, it said.