Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired a day-long meeting with his Council of Ministers, had a fairly simple message for them ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections: “Go, win. I will see you soon”. The crucial meeting was to brainstorm on the vision document ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ and also to deliberate on a detailed action plan for the next five years.
As per sources, PM Modi asked ministers to be careful while meeting people, “especially during elections”.
In his nearly hour-long address to the ministers, the Prime Minister also advised them to avoid controversies and be cautious of deepfakes.
“Please be mindful before making any statements. Nowadays, there is a trend of deepfake in which voice, etc can be altered, be cautious of this”, a source quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Deepfake videos are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else’s likeness.
“Speak about the schemes, avoid controversial statements,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the glimpse of a ‘Viksit Bharat (developed India)’ should be visible in the upcoming full budget that will be presented in June, the sources said. He is believed to have asked for Viksit Bharat seminars to be included in the departmental agenda and that business bodies like CII and FICCI should be urged to start dialogue on this. PM Modi, the sources said, asked departments to prepare an action plan and pitch ideas on this.
2024 being an election year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented an interim Budget on February 1. The full Budget will be presented after a new government is formed. The general election is due by May.
Government sources said a 100-day agenda for immediate steps to be taken after a new government is formed in May was deliberated upon during the meeting for its quick implementation.
They said the roadmap for “Viksit Bharat” is a result of more than two years of intensive preparation and involved a “whole of government” approach involving all ministries and wide-ranging consultations with state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, scientific organisations and mobilisation of youths for inputs.
“More than 2,700 meetings, workshops and seminars were held at various levels. Suggestions of more than 20 lakh youths were received,” they said.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also spoke about the Rs 1 lakh crore in budget to future technologies and ways to harness that so India leads in innovation.
He also asked ministers and officials to go through records in respective ministries and see how decisions evolved in the past and how ideas changed in the last 25 years. PM Modi also spoke about maximum government and minimum governance during the meeting.
Several ministries articulated their ideas in the meeting, which is likely to be the last such get-together before the Lok Sabha poll dates are announced.
In the last general elections, the BJP-led National Democratic (NDA) won a total of 303 seats, leaving the Congress behind at 52 seats.
