No extended weekend for Modi ministers, babus

NEW DELHI: Friday will be a grind for cabinet ministers and their senior officers, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge.

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While most of the government staff will be off for an extended weekend — Janmashtami is a government holiday, throw in a leave on Friday and the week is taken care of — the ministers and officials will review their work and share ideas on governance and economy.

At around 11am, all the 27 cabinet ministers and around 1,300 officers — of the rank of joint secretary and above — are expected at Vigyan Bhawan to hear Singapore’s deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam speak on India in the Global Economy.

The lecture, organised by Niti Aayog, will be followed by a four-hour panel discussion with ministers and officers exchanging ideas on economy, governance and development with the Singaporean leader.

Their next stop will be Parliament library building where at 5.30pm, another four-hour session will begin. Modi, who is still to take a day off after taking over as the Prime Minister two years ago, will review the implementation of budgetary and cabinet decisions by various ministries.

“It is going to be a gruelling day for us with two back to back fivehour meetings. While the review meeting is a regular feature, the lecture by a visiting foreign dignitary followed by an interactive discussion is the first-of-its-kind,” a senior minister told HT on the condition of anonymity.