STATE TIMES NEWS

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked trainee IAS officers to provide the best possible governance and quality of life to citizens as he said that ‘New India’ is not satisfied with a lackadaisical approach and demands pro-activeness.
It is their choice, he told them, whether they will act as speed-breakers or superfast highways in service delivery. The saturation approach pursued by his government to reach out to every entitled beneficiary of welfare schemes ensures social justice and prevents discrimination, he said according to a statement.
He told the trainee officers of the 2022 batch that they should aspire to be catalytic agents, and they will feel satisfaction when they see change happening in front of their eyes.
Talking about schemes like ‘Lakhpati Didi’, ‘Drone Didi’ and ‘PM Awas Yojana’, he said all of them should work with a saturation approach to take these schemes further to people.
Modi said ‘Nation First’ is not just a slogan but his life’s aim and exhorted the officers to walk with him on this journey. He said accolades they had received after their selection as IAS are things of the past and instead of staying in the past they should look at the future.
During the interaction, various officers shared their experiences of training.

Modi meets economists ahead of Budget for 2024-25

Take steps to accelerate growth: Eminent economists

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting eminent economists on Thursday to elicit their views and suggestions for the upcoming Budget, a senior government official said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha on July 23.
Besides economists and sectoral experts, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery and other members also attended the meeting.
Finance Minister Sitharaman, Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and economists Surjit Bhalla and Ashok Gulati and veteran banker K V Kamath among others were present in the meeting.
The Budget for 2024-25 will be the first major economic document of the Modi 3.0 government, which, among other things, is expected to lay the road map for making India a developed nation by 2047.
Sitharaman has already held discussions with various stakeholders, including economists and captains of Indian industry, on the forthcoming Budget.
Several experts have urged the government to provide tax relief to the common man to boost consumption and take steps to check inflation and accelerate economic growth.
Eminent economists also urged the government to take steps to accelerate economic growth and improve infrastructure, sources said.
“Earlier today, interacted with eminent economists and heard their insightful views on issues pertaining to furthering growth,” Modi said in a post on X.