Faced with the charge of policy paralysis, prime minister Manmohan Singh has identified 19 areas, including Lokpal Bill, electoral reforms and land acquisition bill, which will receive focused attention.

The prime minister’s announcements for Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast besides judicial accountability bill and grievance redressal bill are the other issues identified as thrust areas which form the core of UPA government’s governance agenda in the near term, the PMO spokesman said here on Wednesday.

The prime minister’s office has devised a mechanism to monitor, on a monthly basis, the progress of government and public sector programmes in these areas, he said.

The ministries and offices concerned have been asked to give an update in terms of status, milestones and timelines for achievement of targeted indicators, difficulties and any other development which require coordination by the prime minister’s office, the spokesman said in a statement.

The thrust areas identified include Lokpal Bill, electoral reforms, operationalisation of Gram Nyayalayas, proposed public procurement law, land acquisition (amendment) bill and implementation of the eight climate change missions.

The other such areas are follow-up on the recommendations of the 2nd administrative reforms commission, addressing malnutrition, skill development training, follow-up on Sachar committee's recommendations, health insurance coverage under Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojana and creation and management of cold chain infrastructure for agriculture.

Implementation of national highways development programme (NHDP), the prime minister's announcements for the Northeast and J&K, sea ports, judicial accountability bill, grievance redressal bill besides coal, power distribution and fertiliser sectors.

The principal secretary to the PM, Pulok Chatterjee, has been asked by the prime minister to brief him every month on the progress achieved in these thrust areas.

Chatterjee has outlined different time frames for these tasks.

Uploading of the ministry's report will have to be done by 5th of each month, posting of status and comments on sector side by 9th and collation, with comments, into a consolidated monthly report, by the monitoring unit, and submission to PM - by 12th.

The prime minister's directions in respect of each of the thrust areas will then be communicated back to the ministries/offices and followed up by the sectoral officer in the PMO.