PM to meet state chief secretaries to push development agenda

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to meet all chief secretaries together — probably for the first time — on Monday to fast-track all-round development of states by taking a cohesive approach.

At the upcoming national conference of chief secretaries, finance secretaries and planning secretaries of states, Modi will deliberate on the issue and take stock of their position on various fronts.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the day-long national conference of chief secretaries and other officials on July 10,” a source said.

The prime minister’s presence is expected to ensure better coordination with states with a view to removing “regional imbalance and disparities”.

Niti Aayog Member Bibek Debroy will make a presentation on ‘An analysis of financial position of states, post 14th Finance Commission’. He will also speak about ‘Re-engineering the government’ that can improve delivery by states.

Quality Council of India Chairman Adil Zainlubhai is scheduled to address the audience on ‘Moving away from inputs to outcomes and their monitoring on dashboards’ to set the tone for outcome-based budgets and online monitoring of public finance management.

Many other issues are also set to come up for discussion, which include less-cash economy, ranking on the basis of ease of doing business, direct benefit transfer, agriculture, health and nutrition, targeting Olympic medals, promotion of electric vehicles and leveraging e-marketplace by states.

States would list out their best practices and put on table different issues handled by them in the most efficient and effective manner.

Andhra Pradesh, for one, will give a presentation on online management of outcome-based public finance system on a real-time basis. Similarly, Rajasthan will give out details on its electronically managed public distribution system, ‘e- PDS’, for efficient public service delivery under Annapoorana Bhandar Yojana.

Positive impact of cash payment under a nutrition programme in Bihar and a presentation by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation on public-private partnership for setting up drinking water and sewage treatment plants are part of the broader agenda too.