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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka

Published By : Admin | March 14, 2015 | 17:21 IST

Morning of March 13th, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi reached Sri Lanka. It was the final destination of Shri Modi’s three nation tour. Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, received Shri Narendra Modi at the airport in Colombo early morning at around half past five.

A ceremonial reception was organised for the Indian Prime Minister. President of Sri Lanka, Mr. Maithripala Sirisena welcomed Shri Narendra Modi. Prime Minister Modi expressed his delight to meet President Sirisena yet again.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

Sri Lanka visit attached great importance for both the nations as this was the first stand alone bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister since 1987. Shri Modi had earlier tweeted about the two-day visit with immense joy.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 8, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 8, 2015

In the day, on March 13th, the Prime Minister of India and the President of Sri Lanka addressed the Joint Statement to the media. Shri Narendra Modi noted the impressive growth of trade in the past few years and hoped to strengthen India-Sri Lanka trade ties further. Shri Modi expressed India’s strong desire to cooperate and develop a Ramayana trail in Sri Lanka and a Buddhist Circuit in India.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

PM, Shri Narendra Modi also held a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe. Discussions were held relating to a wide-range of issues and fortifying the cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

Shri Narendra Modi also paid a visit to Mahabodhi Society. He interacted with the Buddhist monks in Colombo. Seeking blessings from them, PM Modi said that Buddha has always shown the path away from wars. He thanked the Mahabodhi society for letting him visit such a place. Taking note of the contribution of Buddhism in the cultural upliftment of India and Sri Lanka, Shri Narendra Modi considered it to be a uniting force between both the nations.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

Early evening, on the very same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Considering the Sri Lankan Parliament to be one of the most vibrant in Asia, he conveyed greetings on behalf of the 1.25 billion people of India. Shri Modi expressed his delight to have got the chance to visit Sri Lanka so early in his term. Believing Sri Lanka to be an inspiration for human development, Shri Modi assumed it to be home for enterprise, skill and extraordinary intellectual heritage. He expressed that how without having any land boundary the two nations have been the closest neighbours. The Prime Minister stated his vision of an ideal neighbourhood where trade, investments, technology, ideas and people flow easily across borders. Shri Narendra Modi assured India’s full commitment and support in development partnership with Sri Lanka.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

Prime Minister Modi also paid tributes to the martyrs of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). He remembered their sacrifices and saluted their spirit.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

While addressing a business community at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Prime Minister highlighted the relevance of infrastructure, energy, traditional handicrafts, modern manufacturing and tourism. Shri Narendra Modi regarded that India attached highest importance to Sri Lanka’s economic progress. He was pleased to see the progress on Sampur Thermal Power Project and the Trincomalee Oil Farm. He also shared his contentment on Government of India’s decision about extending the benefit of visa on arrival facility to Sri Lanka starting April 14th.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 13, 2015

Shri Modi also met the opposition leader of Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva, leaders of the Tamil National Alliance and the Former President of Sri Lanka, Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 13, 2015

March 14th, the second day of visit, began with his journey to Anuradhapura. Shri Modi visited Sri Mahabodhi Tree where he and President Sirisena offered prayers. He even posted a picture on Instagram.

 

Offered prayers at the Naguleswaram Temple in Jaffna. Feeling blessed. #Jaffna #SriLanka

A photo posted by Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) on Mar 14, 2015 at 4:15am PDT

After Anuradhapura, the next stop over for Shri Modi was Jaffna. Upon reaching there, PM Modi said that the world was now able to experience a sense of peace from Jaffna too. Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Jaffna Cultural Centre.

The Prime Minister also went to Naguleswaram Temple in Jaffna where he offered prayers in the temple and spent a few minutes.

A photo posted by Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) on Mar 13, 2015 at 10:42pm PDT

Jaffna and the Indian State of Gujarat have had a common link for quite some time. It was after the Tsunami in Indian Ocean that a team from Jaffna travelled all the way to Gujarat for studying about reconstruction. After 2001 earthquake that hit Gujarat and posed serious threat to life and property, the Gujarat Government came up with a unique Owner-driven Reconstruction Project. Happy to see the project implemented successfully in Jaffna too, Shri Modi handed over homes at Ilavalai North-West Housing Project site. Around 27,000 more homes would be constructed that the Prime Minister hoped would wipe away tears from the eyes of those who suffered in the past.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 14, 2015

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 14, 2015

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 14, 2015

Shri Narendra Modi also met with Northern Province CM CV Wigneswaran.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 14, 2015

Prime Minister Modi also flagged of a train service from Talaimannar to Madhu Road. Shri Narendra Modi considered it to be an honour to have been able to dedicate such a developmental project in Sri Lanka.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 14, 2015

The Indian High Commissioner in Colombo organised a reception in respect of Prime Minister of India. Shri Narendra Modi interacted with the guests there at the event.

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) March 14, 2015

As he left the land of Southern neighbour, the Prime Minister was optimistic that in the coming future India-Sri Lanka ties would be stronger. The Prime Minister hoped that both the nations would work together to harness the vast potential of the Ocean Economy. He expected that both nations would rise above together beyond the recent histories and work more effectively in the times to come. A new page was added to the chapter of India-Sri Lanka relationship with this historic visit of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

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Review undertaken in 50th PRAGATI

During the meeting, Prime Minister reviewed five critical infrastructure projects across sectors, including Road, Railways, Power, Water Resources, and Coal. These projects span 5 States, with a cumulative cost of more than ₹40,000 crore.

During a review of PM SHRI scheme, Prime Minister emphasized that the PM SHRI scheme must become a national benchmark for holistic and future ready school education and said that implementation should be outcome oriented rather than infrastructure centric. He asked all the Chief Secretaries to closely monitor the PM SHRI scheme. He further emphasized that efforts must be made for making PM SHRI schools benchmark for other schools of state government. He also suggested that Senior officers of the government should undertake field visits to evaluate the performance of PM SHRI schools.

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Genesis of PRAGATI

Recalling the origin of the approach, the Prime Minister said that as Chief Minister of Gujarat he had launched the technology-enabled SWAGAT platform (State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology) to understand and resolve public grievances with discipline, transparency, and time-bound action.

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Scale and Impact

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Since 2014, 377 projects have been reviewed under PRAGATI, and across these projects, 2,958 out of 3,162 identified issues - i.e. around 94 percent - have been resolved, significantly reducing delays, cost overruns and coordination failures.

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Unlocking Long-Pending Projects

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Several projects that had remained stalled for decades were completed or decisively unlocked after being taken up under the PRAGATI platform. These include the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge in Assam, 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. These outcomes demonstrate the impact of sustained high-level monitoring and inter-governmental coordination.

From silos to Team India

Prime Minister pointed out that projects do not fail due to lack of intent alone—many fail due to lack of coordination and silo-based functioning. He said PRAGATI has helped address this by bringing all stakeholders onto one platform, aligned to one shared outcome.

He described PRAGATI as an effective model of cooperative federalism, where the Centre and States work as one team, and ministries and departments look beyond silos to solve problems. Prime Minister said that since its inception, around 500 Secretaries of Government of India and Chief Secretaries of States have participated in PRAGATI meetings. He thanked them for their participation, commitment, and ground-level understanding, which has helped PRAGATI evolve from a review forum into a genuine problem-solving platform.

Prime Minister said that the government has ensured adequate resources for national priorities, with sustained investments across sectors. He called upon every Ministry and State to strengthen the entire chain from planning to execution, minimise delays from tendering to ground delivery.

Reform, Perform, Transform

On the occasion, the Prime Minister shared clear expectations for the next phase, outlining his vision of Reform, Perform and Transform saying “Reform to simplify, Perform to deliver, Transform to impact.”

He said Reform must mean moving from process to solutions, simplifying procedures and making systems more friendly for Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business.

He said Perform must mean to focus equally on time, cost, and quality. He added that outcome-driven governance has strengthened through PRAGATI and must now go deeper.

He further said that Transform must be measured by what citizens actually feel about timely services, faster grievance resolution, and improved ease of living.

PRAGATI and the journey to Viksit Bharat @ 2047

Prime Minister said Viksit Bharat @ 2047 is both a national resolve and a time-bound target, and PRAGATI is a powerful accelerator to achieve it. He encouraged States to institutionalise similar PRAGATI-like mechanisms especially for the social sector at the level of Chief Secretary.

To take PRAGATI to the next level, Prime Minister emphasised the use of technology in each and every phase of the project life cycle.

Prime Minister concluded by stating that PRAGATI@50 is not merely a milestone it is a commitment. PRAGATI must be strengthened further in the years ahead to ensure faster execution, higher quality, and measurable outcomes for citizens.

Presentation by Cabinet Secretary

On the occasion of the 50th PRAGATI milestone, the Cabinet Secretary made a brief presentation highlighting PRAGATI’s key achievements and outlining how it has reshaped India’s monitoring and coordination ecosystem, strengthening inter-ministerial and Centre-State follow-through, and reinforcing a culture of time-bound closure, which resulted in faster implementation of projects, improved last-mile delivery of Schemes and Programmes and quality resolution of public grievances.