On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid thrust on the quicker delivery of the government’s developmental agenda as he embarked on a comprehensive review of the ongoing schemes in a first of its kind meeting of the Council of Ministers. Modi is also learnt to have expressed concern over the soaring price of pulses in the over three-hour-long meeting, during which the status of projects of some ministries were reviewed.
It was also decided to hold such meetings every fourth Wednesday of each month to conduct similar reviews on other ministries, sources said. Reviewing the progress of schemes of ministries like Agriculture, Rural Development, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Chemical and Fertilizer and Water Resources, Modi emphasised the need to take the government’s initiatives to the people.
He also asked the ministers to be well-versed in all subjects so that they can highlight the government’s achievements effectively when they communicate in public. Noting that the schemes launched so far to clean the river Ganga have failed to bring effective results, he called for out-of-the-box ideas to ensure greater participation of people for the success of his pet ‘Namami Gange’ project, the sources said.
Modi also sought suggestions for improving various schemes and their effective implementation. A key highlight of the meeting was the his focus on how to increase the production of pulses in the country. The issue of soaring pulse price had been used by the Opposition to corner the government repeatedly, including during the Bihar Assembly polls. He also stressed on the need to take measures against hoarding.
The meeting also saw a discussion on MNREGA, the rural job guarantee scheme. The issue of direct release of wages to workers for its better implementation and empowerment of the states also came up for discussion.
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