PM Modi stresses 'reform, perform, transform' mantra at 50th PRAGATI meeting

New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday stressed on the mantra of reform, perform and transform at the 50th meeting of PRAGATI, which accelerated projects worth more than Rs 85 lakh crore over the past decade.

Chairing the meeting, the prime minister emphasised the use of technology in each and every phase of a project life cycle.

The Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) platform must be strengthened further in the years ahead to ensure faster execution, higher quality and measurable outcomes for the citizens, he said.

During the meeting, the prime minister reviewed five critical infrastructure projects across sectors, including road, railways, power, water resources, and coal.

"These projects span five states, with a cumulative cost of more than Rs 40,000 crore," an official statement said.

It said during a review of the PM SHRI scheme, the prime minister emphasised that the initiative must become a national benchmark for holistic and future-ready school education with outcome-oriented rather than infrastructure-centric implementation.

He also asked all the chief secretaries to closely monitor the PM SHRI scheme.

The prime minister further emphasised that efforts must be made for making the PM SHRI schools benchmarks for other schools of the state governments.

He also suggested that senior officers of the government should undertake field visits to evaluate the performance of the PM SHRI schools.

PRAGATI is essential to sustain the reform momentum and ensure delivery, Modi said.

On the occasion, the prime minister shared clear expectations for the next phase, outlining his vision of reform, perform and transform.

"Reform to simplify, perform to deliver, transform to impact," the prime minister said.

He said that reform must mean moving from process to solutions, simplifying procedures and making systems more friendly for 'ease of living' and 'ease of doing business'.

The prime minister said perform must mean to focus equally on time, cost, and quality.

He added that outcome-driven governance has strengthened through PRAGATI and it must now go deeper.

Transformation must be measured by what citizens actually feel about timely services, faster grievance resolution, and improved ease of living, Modi said.

He also said that long-pending projects have been completed in national interest using the PRAGATI platform.

PRAGATI exemplifies cooperative federalism and breaks silo-based functioning, the prime minister added.

At the 50th PRAGATI meeting, the prime minister described the milestone as a symbol of the deep transformation India has witnessed in the culture of governance over the last decade.

Modi underlined that when decisions are timely, coordination is effective, and accountability is fixed, the speed of government functioning naturally increases and its impact becomes visible directly in citizens' lives.

The prime minister recalled that the genesis of PRAGATI was the technology-enabled State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology (SWAGAT) platform he had launched during his tenure as the chief minister of Gujarat.

Building on that experience, he expanded the same spirit nationally through PRAGATI, bringing large projects, major programmes and grievance redressal onto one integrated platform for review, resolution, and follow-up.

The prime minister noted that over the years, the PRAGATI-led ecosystem has helped accelerate projects worth more than Rs 85 lakh crore and supported the on-ground implementation of major welfare programmes at scale.

Since 2014, 377 projects have been reviewed under PRAGATI, and across these projects, 2,958 out of 3,162 identified issues -- around 94 per cent -- have been resolved, significantly reducing delays, cost overruns and coordination failure, he said.

The prime minister also said that with India moving at a faster pace, the relevance of PRAGATI has grown further.

PRAGATI is essential to sustain the reform momentum and ensure delivery, he said, adding that since 2014, the government has worked to institutionalise delivery and accountability by creating a system where work is pursued with consistent follow-up and completed within timelines and budgets.

He said projects that were started earlier but were left incomplete or forgotten have been revived and completed in national interest.

Several projects that remained stalled for decades were completed or decisively unlocked after being taken up under the PRAGATI platform, the prime minister said.

He cited the examples of the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge in Assam, which was first conceived in 1997; the Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link, where work began in 1995; the Navi Mumbai International Airport, conceptualised in 1997; the modernisation and expansion of the Bhilai Steel Plant, approved in 2007; and the Gadarwara and LARA Super Thermal Power Projects, sanctioned in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

The prime minister said that projects do not fail due to lack of intent alone -- many fail due to lack of coordination and silo-based functioning.

PRAGATI has helped address this by bringing all the stakeholders onto one platform, aligned to one shared outcome, he said.

Since its inception, around 500 secretaries of the Union government and chief secretaries of states have participated in the PRAGATI meetings.

The prime minister also said the government has ensured adequate resources for national priorities, with sustained investments across sectors.

The Viksit Bharat@2047 is both a national resolve and a time-bound target, and PRAGATI is a powerful accelerator to achieve it, he said.

The prime minister also encouraged the states to institutionalise similar PRAGATI-like mechanisms, especially for the social sector at the level of chief secretary. PTI SKU NB NB