IN HIS first meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and departmental heads from the bureaucracy after reelection, Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi had asked all of them to prepare a 100-day development plan for their respective areas of operation and implement them in a time-bound manner. The Prime Minister also laid greater emphasis on generation of new ideas to meet the growing demands of the new generation. In asking his cabinet colleagues and the departmental heads to come up with new ideas and a well laid out plan of action for development, at the back of the Prime Minister’s mind was the overwhelming mandate the people had given to the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies. The Prime Minister is aware that this was not sheer show of numbers but it reflected the people’s aspirations and expectations and hence the challenge of equal measure for the new term of governance.
And it becomes the responsibility of each and every member of the Government, whether it be the political executive or the bureaucracy, to deliver on the promises that the ruling party had made during the course of campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. As the leader of the ruling party, it was but natural for the Prime Minister to remind his colleagues and bureaucracy of the promises, the emphasis being on delivering the services in a time-bound manner and improving the living standards of a vast majority of the people, especially those belonging to the deprived sections. It is in the light of these missives of the Prime Minister that the directive by Cabinet Secretary Mr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha to all the ministries to create dashboards on key target areas for the information of the general public assumes significance.
This will add transparency to governance and would motivate people for active participation in the schemes and projects that the Government plans for their benefit and welfare. Because the sole aim of such development projects and welfare schemes is improving the living standards of all stakeholders and that the ministries and departments of the Government cannot function in isolation and within the confines of their four walls or away from the gaze of the common man. Because he is the ultimate and intended beneficiary of such development activity undertaken by the Government.
Thus the aim of the Prime Minister in taking these measures is also to impart transparency to governance and make it more public-oriented besides giving more say to the last stakeholder on the social ladder. Already the Modi Government has set the target of filling up 3 lakh vacancies in higher education institutions, efficient grievance redressal system and launching of national e-services delivery assessment. Of course not all targets are going to be fulfilled within a short period of 100 days. Some of them could even extend upto five years. But even these long term projects are expected to be given a push in right earnest so that they begin to yield results in a time-bound manner.
Of course the Modi Government will be confronted with challenges and expectations of new age during its new term and the Government appears to be ready on delivering them. Besides, apart from shouldering new challenges, the Government would also be looking to finish the unfinished agenda of its earlier regime. The people have, therefore, given the Government time enough to fulfill those promises of the past and handle the new ones effectively. The idea, therefore, is to give impetus to governance and make meaningful contribution to improving the lives of the people. While the Government is expected to lay down the road map for renewed vigour to development, active participation of the people in Government’s public welfare projects would remain a key to their success.