At a joint press conference in Delhi on Saturday, the Minister for Rural Development , Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the Minister for Panchayati Raj, Mani Shankar Aiyer said the theme of the conference would be "Poverty Alleviation and Rural Prosperity through Panchayti Raj." The step "towards attaining the aim of "deepening and widening rural prosperityu, " which is one of the major goals cited in the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance.