Saturday, October 8 2005 16:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chandigarh: Asking the Congress Chief Ministers to make the employment guarantee Act a 'laboratory' for right to information and enhancing transparency and accountability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Oct 8, 2005) said the Central Government was committed to end the era of 'jobless growth' and revive employment.

"Our Governments must take the lead in evolving best practices in the implementation of the Act," the premier told Congress Chief Ministers and other senior party leaders on the concluding day of the two-day party CMs conference here.

The Congress Governments must lead the way and set an example for all on implementation of the Act, he stressed.

Singh urged the Chief Ministers to commit their best civil service talent for implementation of the Act.

"Please use this programme to also strengthen decentralization and Panchayati Raj in your states," he told the gathering also figuring Party Chief Sonia Gandhi.

"Rozgar Badhao (employment generation) was our solemn pledge. I am happy the parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act," he said, adding, that under guidelines of the Centre, states were expected to craft locally relevant schemes to generate employment and create productive assets.

"It is up to the states to make this a creative agenda for rural transformation utilizing the large resources that will flow under this programme," Singh said.

He said that the employment guarantee Act must be transparent, peoples programme.

"Therefore, methods of estimation and measurement of works and rates of payment for each task should be made transparent," he added.

Singh said that the labour that sought work must understand what was offered on what terms and demand its full entitlement. "There should be complete transparency in maintenance of muster rolls and payment of wages," he said.

With the implementation of this Act, Singh said people would have general access to public records and information pertaining to the employment guarantee Act.