While politicians are busy in election campaigning, top bureaucrats in the Capital are burning the midnight oil in preparing the ‘100-day Action Plan’ for the next government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi put them on the job on March 3.
All Secretaries in the government have been made part of 10 sectoral groups of secretaries and are working on “six building blocks” of the plan, making presentations before the Cabinet Secretary to finalise the blueprint by the end of May, News18 has learnt. The work is happening on weekends and holidays too.
Sources said PM Modi, in a 9-hour-long sitting with all Secretaries on March 3, said: “This election will be different…regular work will go on despite elections…bureaucracy feels continuity despite the election season.” He told officers that under his government, “bureaucrats had forgotten what is a Sunday”, and asked them to “think big” and not about the “low-hanging fruits” for the 100-day plan.
The PM told bureaucrats that “when I come back in June, I will review the 100-day and 5-year plan” and a NITI Aayog meeting is expected to be called with all chief ministers to explain the plans after the PM’s review is complete by the third week of June.
As per details with News18, the vision for the first 100 days is moving towards a “citizen-empowered government” high on technology adoption, digital empowerment and the use of Artificial Intelligence. The six building blocks identified by the secretaries for the 100-day plan are “Macroeconomy, empowered citizens, thriving and sustainable economy, technology and innovation leadership, effective governance, and Bharat as Vishwabandhu”.
What All is on the Table
The focus in the first 100 days is expected to be on greater empowerment of citizens, strengthening of institutions, clearly defined goals and targets, data-driven governance and a review of rules.
Some of the major moves on the cards, as per sources who spoke to News18, are a ‘Jan Vishwas 2.0’ move to review laws to reduce the compliance burden of citizens, operationalising the anti-paper leak Bill, a new Right to Services Bill, bring mechanisms for digital delivery of all citizen services, the launch of a pilot of e-passports, digitisation of 100 crore pages of the district and subordinate court cases, sanction of projects worth Rs 4,000 crore for North-east, operationalising six new foreign missions and two consulates, and announcement of a Global Media and Entertainment Summit to be held soon.
A source said many had thought that the March 3 meeting with the PM was more of a ‘farewell meeting’ for the second term of the government but Modi sat with the secretaries for almost nine hours and then with the Council of Ministers. A 100-day plan exercise was also done by Modi in 2019 but sources said the present exercise is different as the agenda has been pitched at a higher level. “The 100-day plan feeds into the 5-year plan, which in turn is all part of the Vision 2047. The Modi government is working on a big pitch,” a source said.
A source said the prime minister has also asked if a committee can be formed to study the country’s changing demography in the aspect of more nuclear families now and senior citizens living alone. There has also been a suggestion of Union government’s official correspondence being in Tamil too, besides English and Hindi, as the PM has in a recent interview spoken about the promotion of Tamil.
PM Modi has also asked officials to keep a focus on the North-east, address regional imbalances, and increase the country’s participation in global institutions. A comprehensive review of IAS training and cadre allocation rules is likely in the first 100 days of the new government. The main thrust of PM Modi is on a “saturation approach” of government schemes to reach the last person.
Some important themes on which the 100-day plan is being designed are ‘Women-led development’, ‘Green economy beyond survival’, ‘City agglomerations as vibrant socio-economic epicentres’ and ‘India becoming start-up ecosystem for the world’. The Modi government will also work on a National Litigation Policy in its third term if voted to power, move on signing an extradition treaty with Italy and work on a revamp of DD News and Prasar Bharti.
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