NEW DELHI: With the BJP-led Government preparing for its second Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked his ministerial colleagues to think ‘out of box’ and give suggestions for the budgetary exercise currently underway.
Interacting with his Council of Ministers at a high tea, Modi spoke against the practice of exhausting all the allocated funds to each ministry at the end of the financial year. He suggested funds should be spent uniformly throughout the year. Being the first meeting with his full Council of Ministers during this year, Modi focused on the Budget exercise that was underway in which the Finance Ministry was holding discussions with various stakeholders.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Minister of State for Skill Development and Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “The Prime Minister said special focus needs to be paid to the North East India. Effort should be made to integrate Northeast states with the rest of the country.”
He added that ministers should visit the Northeastern states and generate feedback.
The PM in the meeting said that new ideas needed to be inculcated in departments for the Budget, Rudy added.
Modi is also learnt to have asked the ministers to seek feedback from the common people on the policies and even get ideas for preparing budgets. He said ideas generated through feedback can then even be included in the preparing financial outlays for the next fiscal.
He recalled that the “Swacch Bharat” tagline was also a result of such interactions with the common man. Presentations based on e-books prepared by various ministries were also made during the meeting.