PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Friday shifted to his new office Seva Teerth from the colonial-era South Block building near Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill. The shift came on a day -- February 13 -- that marked 95 years since the formal inauguration of New Delhi as India’s modern capital in 1931. On Friday, the Prime Minister reached Seva Teerth Complex in a motorcade along with Union Ministers Manohar Lal and Jitendra Singh and top PMO officials, and inaugurated the complex housing the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the National Security Council Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretariat. Modi garlanded a statue of Lord Ganesha in the PMO and took important decisions targeted at welfare of women, farmers, youth and vulnerable citizens.

 

In the presence of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh and top officials including Principal Secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, the Prime Minister signed files approving the launch of PM RAHAT Scheme for extending life-saving protection for every citizen and doubling the number of lakhpati didis to six crore. Under the PM Rahat initiative, accident victims will get cashless treatment of up to Rs 1.5 lakh, ensuring that no life is lost due to lack of immediate medical help, officials said. The Government has crossed the landmark of three crore lakhpati didis, more than a year ahead of the original March 2027 timeline. The Prime Minister has now set a new, ambitious target of six crore lakhpati didis by March 2029, doubling both scale and aspiration. In a major boost to farmers, the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund has been doubled to Rs 2 lakh crore.

 

The move is aimed at strengthening India’s entire agriculture value chain. Modi also approved the Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore. “To power India’s innovation ecosystem, especially in deep tech, early-stage ideas, advanced manufacturing and breakthrough technologies, the Prime Minister has approved the Startup India FoF 2.0 with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore,” an official said. Earlier, Modi unveiled the plaque of Seva Teerth at the new complex -- the name inscribed in Devanagari script on the wall of the complex. Below it is the motto ‘Nagrik Devo Bhava’ (citizen is akin to God). Since 2014, the Modi Government has taken steady steps to move away from symbols of India’s colonial past and to usher a shift in mindset, officials said. They pointed out that the PMO will now be called Seva Teerth, the Central Secretariat buildings have been named as Kartavya Bhawan, and Rajpath has been renamed as Kartavya Path.