This was the ninth meeting of the Prime Minister with the Secretaries since 2014.
Sources said on Sunday that in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s marathon meeting with senior bureaucrats, some officials raised concerns over the populist schemes announced by several states and claimed that they were financially unstable and were taking them on the same path as Sri Lanka. can.
Modi held a four-hour long meeting with secretaries of all departments at his camp office at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg on Saturday.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba along with other top bureaucrats of the Central Government also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Modi categorically asked the bureaucrats to move out of the mindset of managing shortages and face the new challenge of managing surplus.
Sources said he asked them to drop the old story of citing “poverty” as an excuse for not taking up major development projects and asked them to take a bigger approach.
Citing the teamwork shown by the secretaries during the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi said they should act as secretaries to the Government of India and not just as secretaries of their respective departments and as a team should work.
He also asked secretaries to provide feedback and suggest loopholes in the government’s policies, including those not related to their respective ministries.
Sources said over two dozen secretaries expressed their views and shared their feedback with Prime Minister Modi, who listened to them with an open mind.
This was the ninth meeting of the Prime Minister with the Secretaries since 2014.
Sources said the two secretaries cited a populist scheme announced in the recent assembly elections in one state, which is in financially poor shape, and similar schemes in other states to say that they are economically viable. are unstable and may lead the states on the same path as Sri Lanka. ,
Sri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic crisis in history. People have been troubled for weeks due to long lines and short supply and prolonged power cuts for fuel, cooking gas and essential supplies.
In addition to such meetings, Prime Minister Modi has also constituted six-sectoral groups of secretaries to suggest new ideas for overall reforms in governance.