Govt. setting ambitious targets to meet aspirations of youth: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (independent Charge) for power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy on Saturday, said that the government has been following the mantra of maximum governance- minimum government and serious efforts have been made to de-bureaucratise his Ministry.

"Initially 100 files used to come for my approval per day, now this has come down to 5-6 files per day, largely due to delegation of work", he said while addressing FICCI's 88th Annual General Meeting.

He said illustrated the strategy adopted by his Ministry in transforming the aspirations of India. He mentioned how in the last 19 months of the government, he has tried to set a new paradigm for functioning and taking the country forward and added that a good strategy begins with identifying what you should not be doing.

Speaking about the targets set for his sector, Goyal said that the government has never shied away from setting ambitious targets; it has planned for a five-fold increase in solar energy development in the next seven years, double coal production in five years and electrify 1000 villages in 1000 days, despite the challenges that most of these villages have either difficult geographical terrain or face security related bottlenecks.

He emphasised that the government has been scaling up efforts to achieve the ambitious targets set for 2022, with respect to housing for all, 24X7 power for all, houses with access to toilets, etc. " I can assure that these targets are non-compromising", he added.

Goyal replied that focus of the government has been to set a framework under which Indians can progress and continue to progress rapidly. He cited examples of China and Japan to showcase how planning is extremely critical to ensure that execution over the long term is effective. He also mentioned how his Ministry is working to resolve the biggest challenge related to DISCOMS by engaging with States to sign the UDAY scheme. He added that UP Cabinet has also recently signed up UDAY and expressed optimism about other States also coming on board soon.

On the question of commercial coal mining, Mr. Goyal mentioned that the enabling resolution for commercial mining was put forth in the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act itself. However, he talked of political sensitivities in commercial mining by private sector and stated that his government is going step-by-step on this issue. Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet had approved the allotment of coal mines to states for mining for commercial sale to medium and small industries in their state.

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Asked if the government feels concerned about meeting the huge aspirations of Young India Goyal replied that he was delighted that Young India has huge aspirations and expectations from the government and urged them to continue so, because that inspires and encourages the government and invigorates them to do better. "You can expect only from those who you trust can deliver", he remarked.