Charting road ahead: Govt readies Viksit Bharat plan with focus on growth

Ministers brainstorm over 100-day agenda for next term, 5-year action plan

In a message intended to emphasise that the government was confident of returning for a third successive term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired the meeting of his entire Council of Ministers, which discussed the “100-day agenda” of the next government, the detailed action plan for the next five years, in which India’s economy will become the world’s third-largest, and a vision document for Viksit Bharat 2047 detailing the next stage of reforms to help achieve that goal.

In his address to the ministers, the PM indicated that the new government would table the full Budget in June. Usually, the new government presents the full Budget in the first session of Parliament. 

In 2019, the session took place from June 17 to August 7, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabling the Union Budget on July 5. In the 17th Lok Sabha, the oath-taking session was combined with the Budget Session.

In 2014, the PM detailed an agenda for the first 100 days of his government and asked his ministers to shape the contours of their respective road maps within days of the council of ministers taking the oath of office on May 26. In 2019, the PM asked key ministers and secretaries to work on the agenda for the government’s second term in the first week of June. The council of ministers took the oath of office on May 30, 2019.

However, on this occasion, the PM has asked his ministers and secretaries to draft a “100-day agenda” for “immediate steps” and “quick implementation” after the formation of the government in May 2024 even before the Lok Sabha polls. While the effort indicates the robust confidence that the government has that it would return, sources said the message was also to the bureaucracy to be on its toes during the period of the model of code of conduct.

Government sources said the big picture Viksit Bharat road map, presented at the meeting, resulted from more than two years of intensive preparation. It involved a “whole of government” approach involving all the ministries and extensive consultation with state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, and scientific organisations and reaching out to the youth to seek ideas, suggestions and inputs. Sources said more than 2,700 meetings, workshops, and seminars were held at various levels, with more than two million young people sending their suggestions.

The meeting, which lasted nearly eight hours, had presentations on the next stage of economic reforms to transform India, for the country to take assured steps for Viksit Bharat with a blueprint detailing the national vision, aspirations, goals and action points, such as achieving rapid economic growth, sustainable development goals, ease of living, ease of doing business, building infrastructure and social welfare.

The meeting was the last such before the Election Commission announces the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls later this month.