PMO should post all the slides on the internet and inform the citizens.
Kalyan
In a first, Modi calls all Secys for meeting today
Written by D K Singh | New Delhi | June 3, 2014 1:12 amSUMMARY
Modi’s direct interaction with the bureaucracy is also likely to help him keep a tab on the functioning of his ministers.In a move that seems to be aimed at roping in the bureaucracy for the implementation of his larger political vision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened a meeting with all the Secretaries to the Government of India on Tuesday evening, in which he is expected to outline his agenda of governance and his expectations from them.
This is the first time that a Prime Minister is holding such a meeting with Secretaries in the absence of their ministers. While former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had convened a meeting of all State Chief Secretaries to discuss the drought issue, he did not hold such a meeting with GOI Secretaries. “The meeting is meant to ensure synergy between political guidance and administrative experience,” said an official source.
Sources said the meeting with Secretaries, which follows the PM’s meeting with his Council of Ministers on Monday, is modelled on a practice followed by some Chief Ministers who “directly interact” with the bureaucracy.
“Earlier, you would do a lot of work to prepare a Cabinet note, and then the matter would be referred to an EGoM or GoM, which would seldom involve bureaucrats in taking a decision. A direct dialogue with the bureaucracy not only makes them a direct stakeholder in the decision-making process but also makes them more accountable. This system is more effective,” said a senior bureaucrat.
Modi’s direct interaction with the bureaucracy, which is set to become more frequent, is also likely to help him keep a tab on the functioning of his ministers.
Modi has also scheduled separate meetings with Secretaries of different ministries and departments, bunched together in 16 groups, from Wednesday onwards. In a circular issued by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, Secretaries have been instructed to give presentations to the PM in not more than 10 slides, which should not take more than 10 minutes. Each of these presentations will be followed by discussions.
While the circular does not mention whether the respective ministers will be present, sources said they could be called. Even before Modi took oath as Prime Minister, the Cabinet Secretary held similar meetings with Secretaries, apparently at his behest.
While the PM had earlier restructured the ministries, clubbing some together, the departments that have been called together for presentations do not follow the same pattern. For instance, one group has Secretaries of Textiles, Steel, Chemicals and Food Processing; another has Commerce, Information Technology, Tourism, Housing and Culture Secretaries, and Railways, Telecommunications, Road Transport and Highways, and Civil Aviation Secretaries have been called together.http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/in-a-first-modi-calls-all-secys-for-meeting-today/
June 3, 2014
New mantra: 3S or 3C- Pick Sanskrit or English, it’s pep talk | ||
| RADHIKA RAMASESHAN | ||
New Delhi, June 2: If groups of ministers are tossed out, bank on another kind of GoM: the Goodwill of Mates. And to make up for the absence of empowered group of ministers, turn to the EgoM of an enthralling guru of motivation or two. Some of Narendra Modi’s lieutenants began the new working week today as though trying to prove that ministerial mateship does not depend on institutionalised mechanisms like GoMs and EGoMs that the Prime Minister has junked to speed up decision-making. Piyush Goyal, 49, minister of state in charge of power, coal and new and renewable energy, held a pep talk for his officials where the chief guest was Prakash Javadekar, 63, his colleague in charge of environment and forests as well as information and broadcasting. As a sort of “value multiplier”, Goyal managed to get celebrity author Chetan Bhagat to deliver a motivational speech to his officials. Given the BJP’s knack for dressing up the most contemporary of its missions in Sanskritised idiom plucked out of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s lexicon, Goyal’s exercise was called “sampark, samanvay evam samvaad” (connection, coordination and conversation). It brought the bureaucrats of his three ministries together to interact among themselves as well as with Javadekar because of the energy-environment correlation. More such exercises involving more ministers are on the cards. Javadekar was invited not particularly because the duo’s old ties go back to their home state of Maharashtra, a government source said. It was because the two ministers need each other to push a 10-year backlog of projects that piled up because the UPA ministers concerned were apparently “never on the same page”. Tomorrow, shipping and surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari will embark on a similar drill that will bring him, water resources minister Uma Bharati and Javadekar on the same table. Javadekar has invited another professional speaker and author, Shiv Khera, to enthuse his team on Friday. Gadkari’s immediate agenda, ministry sources said, is to tap the transport potential of the country’s rivers and water bodies to complement the railways and civil aviation. He intends to revive the old days when boats ferried people, animals and freight between Delhi and Agra along the Yamuna, and between Calcutta and Allahabad on the Ganga. Gadkari’s officials conceded that the Yamuna, parts of which dry up in the hot season, was “problematic”. But they added that given their minister’s “enthusiasm” and “record” of laying out highways in Maharashtra when he was the state’s PWD minister, he “would do something”. They claimed that Gadkari had already begun envisioning terminals at vantage points along the inland waterways, much like airports and railway stations. For Goyal and Javadekar, it’s less about imagining the future and more about trying not to be weighed down by the past. “Hundreds of projects are pending,” rued a source close to Javadekar. He said clearing defence-related projects would top the minister’s agenda. “China is happily building roads along its borders but we can’t move an inch along China, Pakistan and Myanmar. Our national highways are crying for attention,” the source stressed. Goyal, sources in his ministry said, has listed 20 “priority” projects that need to be green-flagged with Javadekar’s concurrence. The duo have set deadlines for discussion, any debate if necessary, and sanction. “Speak your minds without looking over your shoulders,” a ministry source quoted Goyal as urging his officials. The minister apparently added: “All of us will have to look at ourselves as truly public servants in our effort to change the image of the government, and change the image of ‘babulog’ as people call us.” Goyal told the meeting he was getting phone calls telling him his three departments together added one-and-a-half to two per cent to the overall economic growth. “We don’t have the luxury of time. Results should be evident within this year,” he stressed. Goyal and author Bhagat go back a long way. Their tweets after the session seemed to reflect a rare candour. Bhagat tweeted Goyal’s question: “How does one motivate officials with permanent jobs who have no incentive to do better?” The novelist’s answer was: “When external rewards & incentive structures are skewed, work on inner rewards. Meaning & empowerment matter more than perks.” The “inner rewards” will have their task cut out weaning the babulog away from the long hours of idle chat outside government buildings they are known for. |
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