PM Modi pep talks top mandarins, stresses on policy implementation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met all the secretaries to the government of India over three hours and urged them to work together and implement policy decisions, according to people familiar with the matter.

Flanked by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr PK Mishra, PM Modi heard out some senior secretaries to the government even as he gave them a pep talk about the need for faster delivery and implementation. But it was not without his usual repartee.

After the meeting continued for over two and a half hours, the PM jocularly told the top IAS officers present that he was used to long meetings and hoped that they did not mind the extended meeting. The PM spoke for half an hour before opening the meeting for senior officials to speak their mind.

Before the coronavirus hit the country in January 2019, the PM has held meetings with all secretaries in the past too to get feedback from policy implementers. It is understood that several secretaries gave ideas, some fresh ones, while newly appointed secretaries met the PM face to face. However, it was quite evident that hurdles to implementation of government policies remained as also to the speed of execution.

At one point, the PM jokingly told the top bureaucrats that since they knew the problems and the solutions and had the vision for the future, the problem lay with him regarding the implementation of policies.

The basic purpose of the exercise was to energise the bureaucracy so that it becomes result driven and not process driven.