New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held the third high-level meeting with secretaries of the Central government, urging senior officials to look beyond immediate challenges and focus on preparing India for the years ahead. The meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, focused on the future agenda of ministries and departments dealing with infrastructure and connectivity, security and foreign affairs, as well as governance.
During the meeting, PM Modi stressed that government officials should not limit their thinking to current problems, data and immediate challenges. Instead, they should adopt a long-term perspective and consider how policies and systems being built today can shape the country’s future in the coming years.
PM Modi calls for breaking departmental ‘silos’
The Prime Minister highlighted the need to eliminate the culture of working in silos across government departments. He said the problem was not merely organisational but also related to the mindset within institutions. According to PM Modi, silos can exist both horizontally and vertically across departments and levels of administration. He called on officials to take complete ownership of their responsibilities and work with a strong sense of commitment towards the nation.
The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of a ‘whole-of-government’ approach, where ministries and departments work together instead of functioning in isolation. He cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the West Asia crisis as examples of situations where officials from different departments worked together effectively to address complex challenges.
Data is a national asset for the future: PM
PM Modi described data as a national asset and an important resource for India’s future. He noted that the government invests substantial resources in collecting, securing and managing data, but its full potential is often not realised because of a lack of coordination between departments and the existence of different systems.
The Prime Minister pointed out that data is often collected and managed differently for different purposes. He called for the development of systems that allow data platforms across departments to communicate more effectively with each other. “Better integration of government data could help improve policymaking and enable authorities to make more effective use of information already available with various departments,” he added.
‘Use AI, but keep human judgement at the centre’
Artificial intelligence was another key focus of the meeting. PM Modi called for greater and more innovative use of AI while stressing that technology must work alongside human expertise. He said human intervention and judgement would remain essential while making important decisions. Officials were encouraged to explore creative ways of using AI to improve governance and public service delivery without losing the value of human experience and decision-making.
The Prime Minister also called for stronger interaction between government departments, universities and young people. “Greater engagement with students and young minds could bring fresh ideas and perspectives that may challenge conventional approaches to policymaking,” he said.
Focus on defence industry and India’s maritime sector
The Prime Minister also discussed measures to strengthen India’s defence industry and make it more globally competitive. He called for the development of new and modern courses related to the defence sector and stressed the need to create a stronger pool of skilled human resources capable of supporting the industry’s future requirements.
The maritime sector also featured prominently in the discussions. PM Modi called for a comprehensive strategy to strengthen India’s maritime capabilities and recalled that shipbuilding has already been accorded infrastructure status.
He asked officials to assess whether the expected progress was being made towards the targets associated with the sector and stressed the need to take forward the work in mission mode.
PM Modi stresses stronger team spirit among officials
The Prime Minister also highlighted the importance of informal interaction and stronger team spirit among government officials. He encouraged senior officers to engage more frequently with junior officials through personal and informal interactions. Such engagement, he said, can help create stronger professional networks across different cadres and departments. Building these networks could enable different parts of the government to coordinate more effectively and work towards common objectives.
During the meeting, government secretaries also shared their experiences, priorities and emerging challenges in their respective areas. They discussed issues related to policy implementation and the difficulties being encountered while executing various government programmes.
