NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked ministers and bureaucrats to formulate various sectoral policies, including those of infrastructure and agriculture, of international standards.
Prime Minister Modi gave the direction during a meeting which he held to take stock of the progress made in the infrastructure, agriculture and rural development sectors in last six months after he returned to power for the second consecutive term.
In a marathon meeting of the Council of ministers that lasted nearly nine hours, Modi said while a lot of hard work has been put in, more can be achieved by taking inputs from experts and stakeholders, including people.
While in the forenoon, Modi reviewed the progress of rural development and agriculture, in the afternoon, the focus was on infrastructure sector with various committees of secretaries making detailed presentations to the Council of ministers on the three sectors.
The presentation on the social sector would be held next week, sources in the government said.
The meeting came amid protests in various cities against the amended citizenship law and the proposed nation-wide National Register of Citizens exercise.
But it was not immediately known if these issues too came up for deliberation in the meeting.
The Council of ministers usually meets after the Cabinet meeting every month.
But this time, the meeting is being held independently.
The regular weekly Cabinet meeting will be held on December 24, the sources said.
In the past few weeks, the prime minister has reviewed during Cabinet meetings the progress made by various ministries in implementing the government's policies.
The BJP-led NDA returned to power with a greater mandate in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
It completed six months in power in November.