Problems within Country Affecting Economic Growth: PM

"I have full confidence that the Centre and the States will act together to implement the 12th Plan in an effective manner," Singh added.

He also announced that to provide housing to urban poor, "we will soon launch the Rajiv Housing Loan Scheme". Under the scheme, people belonging to economically weaker sections would be given relief on interest for housing loans of less than 5 lakh.

On power supply in rural areas, the Prime Minister said the target is to provide electricity to every rural household in the next five years.

The Prime Minister further said the government intends to create a system in which money from government schemes -pension for old people, scholarship for students and wages for labourers - can be credited directly into beneficiaries' bank accounts.

"This would reduce inconvenience to the beneficiaries, make it easy for them to receive payment and increase transparency. For this work, we will take help from the Aadhar scheme under which about 20 crore people have been registered so far," Singh said.

He also said that it will be "our endeavour to ensure that all households benefit from bank accounts in the next 2 years". Presently only half of the rural households get the benefit of bank accounts. About the state of economy, the Prime Minister said that the global factors are affecting India as well.

"These days global economy is passing through a difficult phase. The pace of economic growth has come down in all countries of the world. Seen together, the European countries are estimated to grow 0 percent this year. Our country has also been affected by these external conditions," he said.