Respond to Political Attacks on ‘Strong Footing’, Maintain ‘Positive Energy’: What PM Modi Told His Team of Ministers

Attacks by political opponents on the government have to be responded to on a “strong footing”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told his colleagues, adding that they must maintain the positive energy and celebrate the 10-year anniversaries of the government’s landmark schemes.

At the Council of Ministers meet earlier this week, Modi commended the women and child development ministry for its quick response to the Mamata Banerjee government when the chief minister wrote to the PM for ‘stronger anti-rape laws’.

Sources said the prime minister cited this as an example to stress on “quick response time” by the government, saying the response must be on “strong footing”. The WCD ministry had written to the chief minister, pointing to non-operationalisation of fast-track courts in West Bengal for addressing rape and POCSO cases.

PM Modi also said the upcoming 10-year-anniversaries of various landmark schemes of the government must be celebrated like the Finance Ministry had done with ‘10 years of PM Jan Dhan Yojana’, and that this model must be adopted by all.

All this was part of the new ‘Inform’ mantra given by the prime minister, in addition to his existing ‘perform, reform, transform’ model for the government. The PM told his team of ministers to maintain the positive energy and not let any negative energy envelop the country.

Other Instructions by PM

PM Modi asked the government to come up with a ‘Rozgaar ranking’ of the states, to specify which state had generated how many jobs. He also asked for organisational re-structuring of central ministries and said all central government employees must register on the iGOT platform where they should be regularly examined for competence and certificates be given to them. The PM asked the Ministers of State (MoSs) to coordinate this particular exercise.

Modi also asked that state administrations needed to be streamlined and two-day workshops be organised on sectoral subjects with participation of ministers from the states. He said the Centre should show the disha (direction) to the political leadership of the states. The PM also remarked at the meeting that the ‘Aspirational Districts’ scheme had become somewhat dormant and the same should be rejuvenated by sending officers in the field.