India Boards Reform Express: PM Modi
PM sets manufacturing, tourism and youth agenda at Chief Secretaries’ meet
- PM calls for 100 products to be identified for domestic manufacturing
- Stresses Aatmanirbharta and ‘Zero Effect, Zero Defect’ commitment
- Urges states to prepare global tourism destination roadmaps
- Highlights youth power as key to Viksit Bharat
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 29th Dec: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India has boarded the “Reform Express” and urged states to fast-track structural reforms to accelerate the country’s journey towards Viksit Bharat, while addressing the Fifth National Conference of Chief Secretaries in Delhi.
The three-day conference, held at Pusa from December 26 to 28, focused on the theme ‘Human Capital for Viksit Bharat’ and aimed at strengthening Centre–State coordination through cooperative federalism.
Highlighting India’s demographic advantage, Modi said nearly 70 per cent of the population is in the working-age group, creating a historic opportunity to accelerate economic growth. He stressed that quality and excellence in governance, service delivery and manufacturing must become the hallmark of India’s development model.
Calling for a strong push to self-reliance, the Prime Minister urged the Centre and states to jointly identify 100 products for domestic manufacturing to reduce import dependence and enhance economic resilience. He underlined the need to strengthen Aatmanirbharta and commit to ‘Zero Effect, Zero Defect’, making ‘Made in India’ a global symbol of excellence and competitiveness.
Modi said states must give top priority to the soon-to-be-launched National Manufacturing Mission and improve Ease of Doing Business, especially in land, utilities and social infrastructure, to attract global companies. He also called for strengthening the services sector to make India a Global Services Giant.
Emphasising tourism as a major employment generator, the Prime Minister urged states to prepare roadmaps for creating at least one global-level tourist destination each and develop complete tourism ecosystems.
He also called for a shift to high-value agriculture, dairy and fisheries to position India as the food basket of the world, with a strong focus on exports. Modi further asked states to prepare ten-year actionable plans with 1, 2, 5 and 10-year targets, leveraging technology for governance, monitoring and cyber security.
The conference was attended by Chief Secretaries of all states and Union Territories, senior central officials and domain experts, with deliberations focusing on education, skilling, sports, tourism, deregulation, technology in governance and citizen-centric service delivery to ensure time-bound and outcome-oriented implementation of reforms.
