Cabinet Secretariat cracks down on red tape, orders faster clearances for Centre's key projects

New Delhi: The Cabinet Secretariat has sent out a series of directives over the last two months to all state governments and union ministries making a firm push to speed up government processes and cut red tape which were holding back implementation and progress of key central projects and proposals, ET has gathered.

The first is to states and linked to the 'cascaded review mechanism' (stage-wise reviews from state to Centre) mandated now prior to each PRAGATI meeting. Union ministers are to hold reviews on a single scheme/sector every month before the PRAGATI review meet chaired by the prime minister, as per a May 20 communication to all Chief Secretaries on 'institutionalisation of sector-wise PRAGATI reviews'.

The process has already begun in May with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs holding a national review with all state governments on the Swachch Bharat Mission. June saw the education ministry conduct reviews on school and higher education. July will see a review by the ministries of health and family welfare and AYUSH-to assess 'implementation bottlenecks and coordination issues' with state governments and district administrations, it is learnt.


The idea is to ensure that the PM-led review is only conducted after 'adequate field-level examination, inter-governmental consultations and clearly identified action points' to ensure a more 'focussed and outcome-oriented deliberations', the Cabinet Secretariat has told states. Much of the Cabinet Secretariat's focus is on checking bureaucratic delays, especially cabinet approvals.

Two fresh directives have been issued on June 17 to accelerate legislative proposals, schemes, and infrastructure investments to ensure they move fast from the conceptual stage to the final Cabinet approval.

The first June 17 directive seeks to speed up the process of inter-ministerial consultations (IMC) on cabinet notes/proposal which often gets held up due to repeated review loops despite receiving high-level clearances.

Case in point: Major public investments are already evaluated by the likes of Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) or the Public Investment Board (PIB). These panels include representatives from the Ministry of Finance, NITI Aayog besides stakeholder ministries. The exercise is known to be a highly consultative one. However, sponsoring ministries/ departments are frequently circulating such finalised draft Cabinet/Cabinet Committee notes for fresh inter-ministerial consultations, even in cases of their agreement with the recommendations of the Appraisal Body, the June 17 Cabinet Secretariat directive says, pointing how this is 'unnecessarily delaying' the finalisation of such Cabinet notes/proposals.

The Cabinet Secretariat has now emphasised that where the sponsoring ministry or department is 'in agreement' with the recommendations of the appraisal body, it must not initiate a fresh IMC.

Seeking strict compliance, the Cabinet Secretariat has underlined those revised timelines for finalisation of cabinet notes and IMC, as communicated in May 2025, must be adhered to by all ministries, avoiding the likes of fresh IMC like unnecessary deviations.

A second directive, also issued on June 17, seeks monitoring of the IMC process through the IMC module of e-Samiksha portal to ensure set timelines are met.

While the IMC module is being monitored by the Secretariat and data is used for assessment in preparation of monthly Administrative Scorecard (ASC) of all ministries/ departments, it has been found that there have been lapses/gaps in updating of details by some ministries/ departments, the directive says.

Seeking strict digital compliance, the Cabinet Secretariat has pointed out how this delay is leading to 'non-monitoring and then non-inclusion' of such notes and accordingly, pendency. The Cabinet Secretariat has directed that each note will now come stamped with a Unique ID number on the IMC module after all details are uploaded to ensure time-bound enforcement.

It has been sought that the IMC process is fully executed and monitored through the specialised IMC module of the e-Samiksha portal and processing delays are prevented.