An Annual Global Investors Summit is to be organised later this year, with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) anchoring the event, to invite investment in the infrastructure segment, where spending for the next five years is projected at ₹1.5 lakh crores.
The government is hoping that this massive push for infrastructure, with investors from India and abroad participating, will have a cascading effect of pushing growth.
This was revealed by government sources as the Modi government completed the first 50 days of its second term and shared data on decisions taken by it.
Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told close aides in his office that there will be no “settling-in” period this time around as it was a continuing government.
Giving further details, government sources said the 50-day push was important as it clearly delineated the government’s priorities and where it wanted to focus resources and policy thought.
Many of the big ticket promises made in the BJP’s manifesto, like the universalisation of the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi (farmers income support scheme) and pensions for small retailers and the unorganised sector, were taken up at the first Cabinet meeting.
The first decision of the Cabinet being major changes to the Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme under the National Defence Fund.
A big promise in the BJP’s manifesto before the polls was the supply of piped water to all households. The setting up of a Jal Shakti Ministry to address, across sectors, issues related to water, was one step, but a campaign, on the lines of Ujjwala (supply of cooking gas to BPL households) called Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched on July 1 this year. This will aim at water conservation and water security, but the big stress will be on participation of citizens especially during monsoons and will concentrate on water stressed districts and blocks.
The blistering pace is, however, most evident in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. Government data shows that at least 17 bills have been cleared and 104 more have been introduced in this session alone, from various ministries.
