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Bridging the barriers with Canada

Published By : Admin | April 18, 2015 | 00:30 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Canada visit was historic, significant, decisive and memorable. It was a visit aimed at strengthening the cooperation between India and Canada.The Prime Minister’s visit attached great importance for improving the India-Canada ties. From inking crucial pacts with Canada to reaching out to the Indian Community in Toronto to visiting Vancouver with PM Stephen Harper, the visit was lined up with frequent events. Delighted to have got a chance to visit Canada, PM even expressed his joy over twitter before embarking on his visit.

It was a standalone bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 long years! Prime focus was on to advance partnership and cooperation between both the nations. PM Modi and PM Harper held extensive talks and discussions to take India-Canada relationship to the next level and obtain substantial outcomes.

Holding meetings with Canadian business houses, leaders and heads of state, Prime Minister Modi presented an image of a developed India –an India that was transforming at the fastest pace among all the emerging economies throughout the globe. Canada, he considered to be a key partner in every area of India’s national development priority.

Strongly condemning terrorism that had gripped both the nations in the past Prime Minister Modi called for promoting a comprehensive global strategy, consistent policy and strong action against all sources of violence. PM Narendra Modi sought to enhance India’s defence and security cooperation with Canada. PM Modi and PM Harper also paid a visit to the Kanishka Air India Memorial and remembered the people who lost their lives in the tragic air bombing in 1985.

Resuming the Civil nuclear energy cooperation, expanding trade and technology were the high priority areas in which both the nations signed agreements. Discussions were held about agriculture, education sector and skill development too. About the agreement on procurement of uranium from Canada, PM Modi expressed his part of content and assured the Canadian counterpart about alterations that were taking place in India rapidly.

An electrifying crowd waited eagerly for PM Modi at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. There was tremendous enthusiasm gripped the Indian Diaspora soon as Shri Narendra Modi reached the venue. Speaking to the audience in Toronto, the Prime Minister highlighted strength possessed in “India + Canada”partnership.He took some time to praise Canada for the hearty welcome and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his vision and leadership.

Shri Narendra Modi assumed India-Canada partnership to be based on shared values. He noted the contribution that Indians made to Canada.India, PM Modi said was a youthful nation that needed the opportunity to showcase the great potential India’s youth possessed. He talked about improving the perceptions about India among the people, adding he wanted India to go from “Scam India” to “Skilled India.”

Visiting the Gurudwara Khalsa Diwan and Lakshmi Narain Temple on the last day of his Canada tour, PM Modi and PM Harper fortified the cultural ties between both the nations.

Leaving Canada with immense satisfaction Prime Minister Narendra Modi developed a sense of optimism that India and Canada would move shoulder to shoulder with each other in the times to come. He hoped that Canada would continue to be India’s one of the most vital partners and re-emerge as one of the key economic partners.

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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.