The government today asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to suggest ways to curb its rising subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and petroleum products without hurting the targetted population. <br/><br/>Addressing the 25th conference of the accountants general in New Delhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also asked the CAG to prepare a report on quality of expenditure to help the government improve effectiveness of the development programmes.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports, the Government's subsidy bill crossed 1 lakh crore rupees mark in 2008-09 and was estimated at 1.31 lakh crore rupees in the previous fiscal. <br/><br/>The government intends to bring down the subsidies to 1.16 lakh crore rupees during 2010-11. Subsidies, which are aimed at providing cheap fertiliser,food and fuel to the needy, account for more than 10 per cent of the total expenditure of the government.<br/><br/>As a result of the measures taken by the government,the growth rate rose from 6.7 per cent during 2008-09 to 7.2 per cent in 2009-10 and is expected to go up further to 8.5 per cent in the current fiscal.<br/><br/>The government aims to reduce fiscal deficit, the difference between the total receipt and total expenditure, to 5.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the current year from 6.7 per cent during 2009-10. <br/><br/>It also plans to sale it down further to 4.8 per cent during 2011-12 and 4.1 per cent a year after that.<br/>