Asia

PM Modi Plans Sweeping Reforms Before 2019 Poll Result - Report

Even before the completion of India’s 7-phased mammoth national election, brimming with confidence for a second term in office, Prime Minister Modi has issued instructions to officials to come up with a 100-day agenda focusing on double-digit economic growth and systemic reforms.
Sputnik

New Delhi (Sputnik) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked three offices of his government to prepare a 100-day plan with a focus on sweeping economic and bureaucratic reforms, according to a report in the Hindustan Times newspaper.

The prime minister is supremely confident of achieving victory in the ongoing 2019 general elections, granting him a second consecutive five-year term in office.

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Modi has tasked the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), The National Institution for Transforming India (also known as NITI Aayog, a government think-tank) and the office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, to come up with a plan that focuses on achieving double-digit economic growth and on ways to further improve the system of governance.

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According to Hindustan Times, the PMO, Niti Aayog and the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser have already had several meetings as they look to develop a plan.

The proposed aim of the incoming government would be to free core sectors of the Indian economy of bureaucratic red tape. These sectors include oil and gas, minerals, infrastructure and education, the report reads, quoting an official.

"The objective is having India as a developed country by the year 2047 with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of around nine percent," said the report citing unnamed officials. 

The 100-day plan will focus on high-growth sectors, like mining, coal, power and energy, the education and primary health sectors and job creation sectors. Providing sufficient drinking water, the inter-linking of rivers, building more roads, airports and ports are other priority areas.

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The results of the ongoing 7-phased national elections will be announced on 23 May. Pre-poll surveys, by and large, are predicting a majority mandate again for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by Prime Minister Modi. However, pundits have warned that the majority could be considerably less than what was achieved in the 2014 general election.

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