NaMo is obsessed with innovations and experiments
Narendra Modi asks NITI Aayog to create road map for India’s development for next 15 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the time for incremental change was over and the requirement was for transformational change. The niyat (intentions) of policymakers is even more important than the niti (policies) itself, he said, addressing the NITI Aayog.
PM has always shown his keenness for innovative ideas that come up from the ‘Babu log’. Internal sources say that he, many-a-times, has been stood a staunch supporter of experimental ideas that they have suggested. “I am ready to take risks but you should come up with something new and not the run-out-of-the-mill stuffs,” said Modi.
The Prime Minister asked the Aayog to create a vision document and road map for India’s development for the next 15 years. Interacting with the Aayog’s members, Mr. Modi said the Union Government had the “courage and the ability” to deliver transformational change for bettering the lives of the people. This was his second visit to the Aayog since it was set up to replace the erstwhile Planning Commission.
Pointing out that historically, Indian policymakers had tended to lament the country’s constraints rather than play to its strengths, he said judicious and intelligent application of India’s natural resources and human resources would be at the heart of this change.
Untapped areas
He is also keen in tipping small ideas from which the think-tanks of the nation can develop brilliant projects and pitch for the same.
He mentioned land, the country’s mineral wealth, and vast untapped solar energy potential and said India had made sub-optimal use so far of its vast coastline. Talking about human resource development, Mr. Modi said: “Focussed skill development is vital, as India has the potential to fulfil the global requirement of human resources in the future.
He also stressed on the need to develop India’s tourism potential. Partnerships with States for promoting development and boosting exports were need of the hour, he said.
PM and Youth
Though grey-haired, Modi have been a youngster while interacting and addressing youth of the nation. It all began on the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme on 27 December 2015 when Modi sought ideas for the youth festival through the app. On the next day, he tweeted and shared on his Facebook page, “Young friends, what are you ideas for the 2016 National Youth Festival? Share your ideas with me on the Mobile App.”
At the beginning of the new year, Modi took to social media to appreciate the large and diverse range of inputs through the app. He tweeted, “Had sought ideas on National Youth Festival. Happy to share that the Mobile App is bustling with innovative ideas & inputs from youngsters” and added, “Young friends have enriched the forum with fantastic ideas on youth-led development, skill development, education, innovation & other topics.”
Prime Minister named certain individuals whose ideas he particularly liked. He appreciated one Girish Rathi who pitched for youngsters volunteering towards initiatives like Swachh Bharat, ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India.’ He lauded Manju for her point on imparting technical education in local languages to further youth-led development. Vaibhav made some observations on drug free India, to which Modi concurred and added that sports and sportsman spirit will help mitigate the menace of drugs. The National Youth Festival incidentally does include a lot of sports activities for youngsters. The same evening he also had a brief Twitter Q&A during which he deliberated with the Twitteratti on the issues raised in the morning.
The nature of inputs received clearly illustrated the aspirational zeal of the youth of India and the urge to create something new and add value to the India story.
A careful scrutiny of the app illustrates that a lot of youngsters are passionate about skill development. Abhishek Manchanda wrote, “Young friends have enriched the forum with fantastic ideas on youth-led development, skill development, education, innovation & other topics.”
NaMo’s urge for innovative ideas yesteryears
Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited suggestions and innovative ideas to implement his ambitious smart cities project in 2015.
“Have inputs on creating better cities? Participate in the Smart Cities contest,” Modi tweeted while posting a link along with it of a contest on ideas for smart cities project.
Have inputs on creating better cities? Participate in the Smart Cities Contest on @mygovindia. https://t.co/BlwzoNI7eb
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 19, 2015
The ‘Mera Shahar Mera Sapna’ contest has been organised by the Ministry of Urban Development seeking ideas and solutions in three different categories for smart cities project.
The winning ideas were shared with the 100 Smart Cities project as potentially implementable solutions.
Modi will launch two big ticket urban renewal initiatives — the ‘Smart City Project’ and ‘Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)’ — on June 25.
In 2014, meeting all Government of India secretaries for the second time in four months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his message of streamlining governance and making it more open. He asked his officers to work without fear of political interference and come up with innovative ideas for the Union Budget which is due in about four months.
He also asked the secretaries to go back for a few days to the place of their first posting to get insights into policy making.
“We are one team. Let us bring openness in governance, come closer and work together. Good things are starting to happen,” Modi said. The mood, he said, had turned positive and a certain momentum has been generated in the past five months that should not be allowed to be squandered away.
Call it as the effort of his public relations team or a trick to attract youth to Bharatiya Janata Party, NaMo has always tried to incorporate innovative ideas and that was evident for his election campaigns.
