PM asks secretaries to advance budget preparation exercise

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday asked secretaries of all central government departments to come up with new ideas and proposals for the union budget as he directed them to begin .

"Good things are starting to happen," the prime minister said, encouraging secretaries to come up with new ideas and proposals for the forthcoming union budget, an official release said here.

At a special high tea hosted for them at his official residence, Modi asked all government departments to advance budget related processes by three months, so that the moment a new financial year begins on April 1, work could begin as per the provisions of the new budget in real time.

He also called for shifting government emphasis from output to outcome, the release added.

Modi called upon the secretaries to work together and decisively build upon the momentum and positive atmosphere generated in the first five months of the new government.

Interacting informally with the secretaries, the prime minister said: "We are one team. Let us bring openness in governance, come closer and work together."

Referring to the Swachhta Abhiyaan or clean India campaign, he said that based on the feedback he was receiving on social media, attitudes of people were beginning to change and the entire mission was already becoming people-driven.

The prime minister said cleanliness is not about resources but about attitudes.

Modi suggested that all secretaries visit the place of their first posting for a couple of days, as this would provide them several new insights on policy-making.

The prime minister also assured them that there would be no political interference and asked secretaries to work fearlessly in the nation's interests.

This was the second such interaction that Modi had with secretaries, the first being on June 4 this year.

More than 80 secretary-level officers were present at the interaction which was also attended by union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu.