PM Modi is learnt to have given 10 mantras to each of his ministers to ensure smooth administration and good governance. He has directed each ministers to prepare an agenda for the first 100 days of the government.
Within 48 hours of his swearing-in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held two cabinet meetings. In one, he took decision on the important issue of black money stashed in foreign banks and in another he passed on the blueprint of good governance to his ministers and bureaucrats.
In the cabinet meeting today, PM Modi is learnt to have given 10 mantras to each of his ministers to ensure smooth administration and good governance. He has directed each ministers to prepare an agenda for the first 100 days of the government.
In a press conference, parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiyah Naidu revealed these 10 mantras of PM Modi which, he said, will be taken in view while preparing the 100 days’ agenda for each ministry and which should aim to revive the economy.
These 10 mantras are:
1) Focus on economy and infrastructure ministries
2) Better inter-ministerial coordination
3) Restoring the confidence in/of bureaucrats
4) Usage of technology and social media to maximise public interaction
5) Stable sustainable government
6) Focus on education and health
7) To gear up entire government machinery to project the new leadership’s mandate
8) Transparency in the government
9) Promotion of e-auction and e-governance
10) People-oriented system to be in place
While these 10 mantras are self-explanatory, it should be noted that two points are quite important. They are essentially a part of the confidence building measures between state-centre and bureaucrats-ministers. The inter-ministerial coordination will help in minimizing the cost on running similar projects.
If we remember, in the UPA government, home ministry was running NPR while AADHAAR as being run by planning commission. Both had similar work but the government incurred humungous cost by running both. At a point of time, there was a tussle between then home minister PR Chidambaram who was looking over NPR project and Nandan Nilekani who was running AADHAAR due to the same issue.
Modi’s mantra will ensure that such tussle and duplicity of work does not happen again.
According to Naidu, PM has asked each minister to resolve all the pending issues of the previous government on an urgent basis. It will give the ministries a scope of improvisation over the old polices and help them implement it in the best possible manner.
The ministers have also been asked to focus on delivery and implementation of important services. For that, e-governance has become a tested mechanism. All the cabinet ministers have been directed to take their ministers of state into confidence while doing so.
The presence of ministers and bureaucrats on social media will ensure mass reach of the government. New ideas, knowledge of an issue, and tracking the public pulse can be done effectively thorgh social media and that PM Modi has learnt during the elections very well. It indeed is a welcome step which will ensure that the government understands the needs and aspirations of people.
According to reports, PM Modi has also given a list of Dos and Don’ts to his ministers. On the top of that list is prohibition from appointing any relative as personal staff. The PM is also learnt to have directed the ministers not to give any government contract to their kins or relatives. Any kind of favouritism is to be avoided and the ministers have been asked to ensure probity in public dealings.
This is undoubtedly an axe on the corruption rooting out from extended tentacles of power and position. Modi wins hands down for attacking where it breeds. In fact he takes care of this corruption in his 10 mantras as well where he says that e-auction should be promoted.
The ministers and bureaucrats have been also been asked to cut the unnecessary costs like that on renovation and repeated painting of government bunglow or flat.
Some other refreshing changes came without any buzz today. For instance, all the ministers came in their government vehicles sans the red beacon.
In all, it is a good start. If the ministers work hard and implement these 10 Modi mantras putting forward a good agenda for first 100 days of the government, the nation will be steered towards good days very soon. But whether this blueprint will ensure it will be known only after these 100 days.
