Our Correspondent / New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked states to accord top priority to ease of doing business to attract investments. The Prime Minister said, the whole world today has expectations from India and wants to partner with India.
Interacting with Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories in New Delhi today, Mr Modi said, it is a golden opportunity for the country. He said, improvement in ease of doing business would bring in greater investment in the States. The Prime Minister said, States have enormous untapped development potential.
Briefing media on the deliberations of the meeting, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Dr Arvind Panagariya said that during his address, Prime Minister stressed on the use of technology in agriculture, elimination of wastage in farm produce and on investment in food processing. Mr Panagariya said, Mr Modi asked the officials to focus and addressing challenges and problems.
Mr Modi strongly urged officers to adopt a positive attitude to new initiatives saying the elected political leadership would always be receptive to new, positive ideas, irrespective of ideology. NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant said, the Prime Minister stressed on the need for extensive use of Aadhaar across the sectors. He said, Mr Modi said, it has brought all around benefit and eliminated leakages.
Mr Modi said, Government e-Marketplace could provide efficiency, savings and transparency in government procurement. He asked all State Governments to maximize the use of it by August 15th.
The Prime Minister also asked officers to remain ever mindful of the credo of ‘competitive cooperative federalism.’ He said districts and cities must also be part of a virtuous competitive environment of development and good governance. It was Prime Minister’s first interaction with Chief Secretaries.
The Chief Secretaries spoke briefly on one best practice each, of their respective States. The best practices presented by the Chief Secretaries included themes such as rural development, skill development, crop insurance, health insurance, reducing infant mortality, tribal welfare, solid waste management, water management, e-governance, pension reform, emergency services, PDS reform, Direct Benefit Transfer of subsidy.
