Seva Teerth is for service, not power show: Union Cabinet

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pushed his "reform express" agenda into top gear, asking Union ministers to draw up time-bound reform roadmaps focused on ease of living and ease of doing business, sources said.

At its first meeting in the new PMO complex, Seva Teerth, the Cabinet passed a resolution pledging that every decision would prioritise public good and citizen empowerment over the display of power.

Advancing the "reform express" push, Modi asked ministers to submit a pipeline of near-term reforms, sources said. He stressed that proposals must squarely target ease of living and ease of doing business to accelerate growth, sources told ET.


Chaired by Modi, the meeting adopted the 'Seva Sankalp Resolution', asserting that governance from Seva Teerth would be guided by the principle of "Nagrik Devo Bhava" and remain accountable to the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians.

The Cabinet declared the premises a symbol of service-driven governance, rooted in constitutional values of dignity, equality and justice.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the new complex represents a decisive shift in work culture, aligning policy with the goal of simplifying life for the last citizen. He underlined that the reform push would translate the Prime Minister's vision into concrete measures over the coming months.

The resolution described Seva Teerth as an embodiment of a "New India" vision - indigenous in thought, modern in form and expansive in capability. It recalled that governments functioned for decades from South Block, and framed the move as both a structural and philosophical reset of governance infrastructure.

Highlighting the government's decade-long record, the Cabinet cited welfare and structural reforms - from lifting over 25 crore people out of poverty to expanding health cover, sanitation, housing and food security - as milestones in a continuing reform journey. Initiatives such as GST, Direct Benefit Transfer and Digital India were presented as pillars of transparent and citizen-centric administration.