Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired his third high-level meeting with Secretaries to the Government of India on Thursday evening, using the session at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence to lay out five broad directives for the bureaucracy, ranging from artificial intelligence to youth engagement, officials said.
Long-Term Vision Over Immediate Metrics
According to a Prime Minister's Office statement, Modi told Secretaries that beyond tracking day-to-day statistics, they must think with a long-term perspective about how India's future should be shaped.
The meeting, held in continuation of two earlier sessions with other groups of Secretaries, focused on ministries handling infrastructure and connectivity, security and external affairs, and governance.
Breaking Silos, Building Trust
The Prime Minister described departmental silos, both horizontal and vertical, as rooted as much in mindset as in organisational design, calling on officials to work with a spirit of belongingness.
He pointed to the coordinated inter-departmental response during the COVID-19 pandemic and the West Asia crisis as models that should become routine practice.
Data As A National Resource
Modi termed data a national asset, noting that fragmented systems and inconsistent collection methods across departments were preventing the government from realising the full value of its data investments.
He pushed for greater interoperability between systems.
ALSO READ: SEMICON India 2026: 240+ Global Chip Companies To Attend; PM Modi To Meet Top Semiconductor CEOs
AI With Human Oversight
On technology, the Prime Minister called for effective deployment of artificial intelligence, while insisting that human intervention and judgement must remain central, and urged officials to find innovative ways to blend AI capability with human expertise.
Youth And University Engagement
Modi also asked for deeper collaboration between government departments, universities and young people, arguing that such engagement could inject fresh and unconventional thinking into policymaking.
ALSO READ: AI Training To Free Coaching: PM Modi's Six Big Independence Day Announcements For Youth
Beyond these five themes, the Prime Minister raised the need to strengthen India's defence manufacturing base competitively at a global level, and pressed for a shift from port development to port-led development as part of a wider maritime strategy.
The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary and senior officials from key ministries, who shared updates on sectoral priorities and implementation hurdles, the PMO said.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
