Do not ignore any communication shared by NSCS and NSA: Modi to ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told all ministers and secretaries not to ignore background notes or other communication shared by National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and National Security Advisor (NSA), and to take them seriously, sources said on Sunday.

Stressing that while framing any policy, there is a need to look at it from India’s strategic point of view, Modi said there were instances when notes from the national security council were not given due importance.

During a five-hour long meeting of the council of ministers held on Friday that was also attended by all secretaries in the Union government, Modi cited the case of the dependence on imported Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used for manufacturing drugs, which was highlighted by the NSCS several years back, the sources said.

Thereafter, on the instruction of Prime Minister Modi, Deputy NSA Vikram Misri gave a presentation on NSCS to apprise ministers about the secretariat, they said.

In the presentation, Misri shared the details about changes taking place across the world, especially in Europe, Russia and the US, and their impact on India, the sources added.

According to sources, Misri’s presentation was not originally scheduled and was added on the intervention of the prime minister, sources said.

Before Misri, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan and Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam also gave their presentations.

During the meeting, Modi also underlined that the policy-making process is dynamic and it needs to be modified with changing times.

Citing an example from his tenure as Gujarat chief minister, the prime minister said there were some rules related to a ministry that were named after some other state and this was changed only after he pointed it out to officials, the sources said.

He told the meeting that there is a tendency of being complacent in framing and implementing policies and this should be avoided.

Policies should be customised with changing times, the sources quoted the prime minister as saying.