Modi seeks ideas from ministers to make India manufacturing hub

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SME Times News Bureau | 27 Jun, 2020
Amid threats from China at the borders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought realistic ideas from his Council of Ministers to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub.

The Prime Minister has asked Ministers to come up with original and realistic ideas that can be transformed into a policy to promote industrial growth and create jobs.

At the 165-minute virtual interaction that started at 5 p.m. on June 20, the Prime Minister asked the Ministers to put the economy on a growth trajectory.

The interaction was about China and manufacturing challenges before India. The virtual platform was set up by the National Informatics Centre.

A few Ministers, including the Defence Minister and the External Affairs Minister, were not present at the interaction.

On June 19, the Ministers were informed about the agenda of the interaction. When the Prime Minister asked them to make their presentations of implementable suggestions, except one, all were "caught unprepared".

The Prime Minister "pulled up" a few Ministers for not doing much, sources said. He said Ministers were not kings and queens or belonged to royalties. He said all (the Ministers) had "struggled from the ground" over years to reach this position and yet no innovative ideas were coming out, said several sources who confirmed about the meeting to IANS.

A furious Prime Minister said he didn't want ideas from the departments, the ministries or the bureaucrats and asked Ministers to come up with their "own original and realistic ideas that can be implemented".

He also said how the bureaucrats were reluctant to new thoughts or ideas of governance during his first tenure and asked the Ministers not to take bureaucrats' words as final.

Pointing out that the key driver of India's current economic growth is the services sector, the Prime Minister asked them to concentrate on how to make the country a global manufacturing hub.

Later on June 25, a few Ministers went to the Prime Minister's residence and presented between 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. their suggestions and thoughts how India could become a manufacturing hub.

There is a growing distrust against China and the government is looking to reduce the trade dependence. The Prime Minister has decided to make India self-dependent and push to make the country a manufacturing hub.