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PM's opening remarks at the SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan

Published By : Admin | June 9, 2017 | 13:53 IST
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Your Excellency President Noorsultan Nazarbayev, Distinguished Leaders, Members and Observers of the SCO, Secretary General of the SCO, UN Secretary General, Heads of International organizations, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!

At the outset, I extend my hearty congratulations to President Nazarbayev for successfully leading Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Kindly also accept my appreciation for the excellent organisation and hospitality rendered to all of us during this conference. Shanghai Cooperation Corporation is the main pillar of peace and security at the regional and global levels.

Excellencies, 

It is a privilege that India will today gain accession to the SCO after 12 years of Observer ship. I am truly grateful to all the nations which supported our accession to the SCO. With this expansion of members, SCO is slated to represent approximately 42% population, 20% GDP and 22% geographies of the entire world. It is evident that the success of SCO reflects the prosperity and development of a huge part of the globe.

Excellencies,

India may be gaining accession to SCO on this day; however, we have behind us, a truly long standing historical relation with each of you members. Trust and goodwill are the main pillars of our political and economic cooperation which is built on trust and bona fides. There are many dimensions of our co-participation with SCO countries. The chief drivers of cooperation are the sectors of Energy, education, agriculture, security, minerals capacity building, development partnership, trade and investment. I am certainly hopeful that our accession to SCO will lead our nations to newer heights of development.

Excellencies,

India has kept connectivity with SCO nations at top priority and we fully support it. We envision that our future generations will only strengthen the march towards success and prosperity of our nations due to various connectivity initiatives. For this to be successful we have to make regional cooperation between the member nations highly robust. The success of our connectivity initiatives and other projects will depend highly upon acceptance, solidarity, regional cooperation as well as inclusivity and sustainability. We consider ourselves fortunate to be a part of International North-South Transport Corridor and Chahabahar Agreement. Our decision to join Ashkhabad agreement will certainly help India establish itself a strong foothold in this domain.

Excellencies,

Terrorism is corroding the human rights and human values among nationals. Hence, SCO’s role in curbing Terrorism and Extremism is commendable. Be it the burning issue of radicalization, recruitments and training of terrorists, or financing of these outfits, if we member nations do not join hands and make joint concerted efforts, we will never be able to achieve security and peace in our nations. I repose full faith in the collaboration between SCO and India in fortifying our fight in ousting terrorist outfits.

In regional perspective, Afghanistan can also benefit greatly from SCO's efforts in reinstating peace and stability in the country. The need of the hour is that SCO needs to take up initiatives on the problem of climate change in the global context at war footing. In this context, I must congratulate Kazakhstan and the vision of the President in selecting a very pertinent theme of "Future Energy" in Astana Expo 2017.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, it is indeed a landmark day for SCO. India is fully prepared to play an active role in aligning itself with the vision of SCO, and will collaborate unequivocally in the development process. Once again, I express my earnest thanks to President Nazarbayev for the successful organisation of this conference. I also extend my best wishes to President Xi Jinping for the forthcoming SCO conference.

Thank you!

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the 50th meeting of PRAGATI - the ICT-enabled multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation - earlier today, marking a significant milestone in a decade-long journey of cooperative, outcome-driven governance under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The milestone underscores how technology-enabled leadership, real-time monitoring and sustained Centre-State collaboration have translated national priorities into measurable outcomes on the ground.

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.

On this special occasion, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi described the milestone as a symbol of the deep transformation India has witnessed in the culture of governance over the last decade. Prime Minister 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.

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.

Building on that experience, after assuming office at the Centre, 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.

Scale and Impact

Prime Minister noted that over the years the PRAGATI led ecosystem has helped accelerate projects worth more than 85 lakh crore rupees 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 - i.e. around 94 percent - have been resolved, significantly reducing delays, cost overruns and coordination failures.

Prime Minister said that as India moves at a faster pace, the relevance of PRAGATI has grown further. He noted that PRAGATI is essential to sustain reform momentum and ensure delivery.

Unlocking Long-Pending Projects

Prime Minister said that since 2014, the government has worked to institutionalise delivery and accountability 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 left incomplete or forgotten have been revived and completed in national interest.

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.