Modi ‘fear’ to keep top secys on toes
19 March 2015 11:59 PM GMT
To bring the Achhe Din, Modi will hold video-conference with union secretaries and states’ chief secretaries on the last Wednesday of every month. And the concerned bureaucrats would be asked to join the conference. Note of PM’s Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra on 9 March to all secretaries has clearly mentioned that the ministries would be represented solely by their respective secretaries and no other official would accompany him/her during the meeting.
“The move is an initiative to keep the heads of the departments in check. Now, they have to keep themselves updated with the progress report of ongoing projects of their ministry as the PM could pose any query related to the developments,” a highly-placed source said.
“The video-conferences would start on 25 March. The details such as fund disbursement by Centre to States, status of centrally-funded projects, problems and grievances of States are expected to be discussed in the scheduled meet,” the source further added. Also, the PMO has directed all union secretaries and chief secretaries to make operational video-conferencing facilities at their department to avoid any technical glitch.
“The new initiative of PMO is seen as bypassing Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers. So far, Cabinet Ministers and CMs used to brief the PM on grievance redressal, project implementation and project monitoring on regular basis, which may not happen once the video-conferencing idea comes into effect,” a political observer said.
According to the note, every month, seven days prior to the meeting, the issues which are to be tackled will be uploaded into the system by the Prime Minister himself. This would allow Union secretaries and state chief secretaries to view the agenda in advance and help them to put their comments and updates on the issues flagged in the system by the subsequent Monday.
The PMO team will then review all the comments and updates one day prior to the meeting. In the meeting, the PM Modi will try to understand the issues in detail and will give suitable solutions.
“The move is an initiative to keep the heads of the departments in check. Now, they have to keep themselves updated with the progress report of ongoing projects of their ministry as the PM could pose any query related to the developments,” a highly-placed source said.
“The video-conferences would start on 25 March. The details such as fund disbursement by Centre to States, status of centrally-funded projects, problems and grievances of States are expected to be discussed in the scheduled meet,” the source further added. Also, the PMO has directed all union secretaries and chief secretaries to make operational video-conferencing facilities at their department to avoid any technical glitch.
“The new initiative of PMO is seen as bypassing Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers. So far, Cabinet Ministers and CMs used to brief the PM on grievance redressal, project implementation and project monitoring on regular basis, which may not happen once the video-conferencing idea comes into effect,” a political observer said.
According to the note, every month, seven days prior to the meeting, the issues which are to be tackled will be uploaded into the system by the Prime Minister himself. This would allow Union secretaries and state chief secretaries to view the agenda in advance and help them to put their comments and updates on the issues flagged in the system by the subsequent Monday.
The PMO team will then review all the comments and updates one day prior to the meeting. In the meeting, the PM Modi will try to understand the issues in detail and will give suitable solutions.
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