PMO tells babus to interact directly with Narendra Modi via website

NEW DELHI: Bureaucrats should interact directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the PM’s website for suggesting “changes in sphere of governance and suggestions for reforms,” the PM’s office has said in a letter sent to all ministries recently.

In the letter, PM’s principal secretary Nripendra Mishra has said the bureaucrats should use a special link created on the website of the PMO to interact with the prime minister.

The move follows a meeting chaired by Modi with all 77 secretaries in the government on June 4 where he had said that “he was accessible to all officers and encouraged them to approach him with their inputs and ideas”, according to a statement from the PMO at the time.

“The intention is to receive any new thoughts, ideas and suggestions for reforms and changes in the sphere of governance, in an organised manner,” the letter said.

The website of the PMO has created a new section, ‘Interact with the Hon’ble PM’, to enable the bureaucrats to share their views on 16 subjects – economy, agriculture, rural, urban, infrastructure, foreign affairs, security, grievances, education, health, science, population, law and order, women’s issues, environment and social justice.

Suggestions can be sent in Hindi or English, with a maximum length of 1,000 characters and the bureaucrats must specify their details including email address, name and residential address on the website.

“The Prime Minister’s Office plans to respond promptly by e-mail to the sender of useful suggestions and acknowledge,” a senior government official told ET. All ministries have subsequently forwarded the PMO’s communiqué down the bureaucratic hierarchy to “encourage” officials to interact with the PM in this format.