CB Bureau ‘We are aware that it has been the government’s endeavour to
engage this sector (NGOs) in policymaking, to improve the delivery of public
goods and services to the people and help in strengthening accountability of
public agencies and public officials,’ said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in
a meeting with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to get their
inputs for the General Budget 2011-12, in New Delhi.
Welcoming the representatives from different NGOs, the finance minister said that feedback from the grassroots level is very important
for effective policymaking and for strengthening public accountability.
The minister added that with development and economic
reforms, the focus of economic activity is shifting towards the
non-governmental sectors, and there is a need to create and strengthen an
enabling ethos so that individual enterprise can flourish and ordinary citizens
can, for most parts, provide for the needs of one another.
This was the minister’s fourth pre-budget consultation meeting
in the series. In other meetings, he met leaders of various sectors of the industry
and the representatives of different trade unions.