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Modi to meet all govt secretaries this week over budget promises
Employment generation and outreach to Scheduled Castes and Tribes communities, women and youth might also gain priority during discussions in the meeting, said an official, asking not to be named.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called all secretaries of the government of India for a meeting on Saturday, HT has learnt.
Officials familiar with the development added that the focus of the meeting, scheduled in the beginning of a new financial year, would remain on faster implementation of government schemes and budget promises, even as the PM is likely to seek fresh ideas for work in key sectors.
Employment generation and outreach to Scheduled Castes and Tribes communities, women and youth might also gain priority during discussions in the meeting, said an official, asking not to be named.
In the past, senior ministers such as Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal have also attended such meetings and some senior ministers are expected to join this one, too.
The meeting assumes importance as at least 20 new secretaries have been appointed in the past six months and it would be their first such interaction with PM Modi. Officials added that no agenda has been circulated as Modi prefers these interactions to remain free-wheeling. “The PM likes to hear our views on various issues,” added an official who would be joining Saturday’s meeting.
“New secretaries have joined. PM will continue to push speedier implementation. Everyone should be on the same page,” said the official.
An official pointed out that soon after he became prime minister in 2014, Modi met all union secretaries, sought out of the box ideas, promised to back them on all development plans and asked them to revisit the district of their first posting and give a report on progress, or lack of it, in those areas.
The prime minister’s last meeting with government of India secretaries took place in September last year.
A third official added that while prime minister takes the final decision on all issues that reach his table, “he is a patient listener and on certain occasions, he allows bureaucrats to reject draft proposals and suggest new ways to achieve targets.”
“He also publicly appreciates bureaucrats, which is a huge morale booster. In one meeting, he effusively praised an officer for effectively spending the entire budget and also quipped that not only that officer is an activist, but he also dresses like one,” pointed out a secretary in a welfare ministry.
PM’s interactions with top officials come close on the heels of internal ‘chintan’ meetings of some ministries.
