The Prime Minister (PM) of India recently presided over the 33rd PRAGATI meeting, a monthly interaction between the central and state governments on the fourth Wednesday of each month, known as PRAGATI Day. The key points of discussion during this meeting were the development of state-specific export strategies, review of development projects, addressing grievances related to Covid-19 and the PM Awas Yojana (Gramin), and the advancement of districts as potential export hubs.
About the PRAGATI Platform
Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, abbreviated as PRAGATI, is a multimodal platform launched in 2015. It was designed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) team in conjunction with the National Informatics Center (NIC). This platform allows the PM to directly discuss issues with relevant central and state officials while being fully furnished with the latest ground-level situation data and visuals. It constitutes a three-tier system involving the PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States.
Objectives of PRAGATI
The primary objectives of the PRAGATI platform include addressing public grievances, ensuring smooth implementation of programmes and monitoring ongoing projects. This platform utilises modern technologies like digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology to facilitate these tasks effectively.
Significance of the PRAGATI Platform
PRAGATI is instrumental in promoting cooperative federalism as it brings together the Secretaries of the Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States in one platform. By doing so, it provides a robust system for ensuring e-transparency and e-accountability through real-time exchanges among key stakeholders, thus contributing to e-governance and good governance.
Concerns over the PRAGATI Platform
Despite its commendable goals and features, the PRAGATI platform has raised a few concerns. The most significant of these is that the direct interaction between the PM and the state secretaries, without including the states’ political executives, erodes the authority of the state political executive. Critics also argue that this method is leading to a concentration of power in the extra-constitutional office of the PMO.
Highlights from the Recent PRAGATI Meeting
In the recent 33rd PRAGATI meeting, the PM urged states to formulate state-specific export strategies. He also reviewed various development projects worth Rs. 1.41 lakh crore spread over ten states and union territories. Among the other discussion points were grievances related to Covid-19 and the PM Awas Yojana (Gramin). The enhancement of the PM SVANidhi scheme, agricultural reforms, and the development of districts as potential export hubs were deliberated upon in the meeting.
