GST rollout marks turning point in India's history: PM Modi

Asserting that the advent of GST on July 1st marks a turning point in India's history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday called on his Secretaries- the topmost officers of Ministries of the Government of India, to proactively prepare for this transformation in order to ensure a smooth transition.

The Prime Minister made the statement today while informally meeting all his Secretaries, where he called for institutions to be made 'outcome-oriented'.

Making a strong pitch to rise above the "administrative mechanisms of earlier centuries", the Prime Minister said the Secretaries had an opportunity to transform the lives of one-sixth of humanity.

He asked them to identify concrete goals to be achieved by 2022 - the seventy-fifth anniversary of independence.

The Prime Minister also exhorted the Secretaries to work beyond the silos of their respective Ministries for the development of the country.

Giving examples such as Financial Inclusion (Jan Dhan Yojana) and Universal Immunization (Mission Indradhanush), the Prime Minister said the some of the best results in the last three years had been achieved when the entire Government machinery worked in unison, as a team.

On Swachhta Abhiyan, the Prime Minister said that the biggest groundswell of support has come from the people, and that is driving change at the administrative level.

Calling for a mission mode approach to the 100 most backward districts in India, Prime Minister Modi said specific goals should be set on various parameters in definite short timeframes for these districts.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, and Nitin Gadkari also addressed the Secretaries.