Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Mozambique on Thursday morning, the first leg of his four-nation tour to Africa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kicked off a four-nation African tour on a continent where China's presence has been strong, including countries that haven't been visited by an Indian leader in more than three decades.
Foreign ministry has described the four countries on the Indian Ocean as economic gateways to landlocked African states. Mozambique alone receives almost a quarter of India's investment in Africa, according to the government.
The 19 leaders who took oath today as new ministers at the Centre, were picked after an exhaustive vetting and selection process to find the best talent, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the expansion of his council of ministers will reflect "budget focus and priorities".
Sources said leaders were assessed for the value they would bring to the council of ministers and asserted that today's expansion marks a firm departure from the usual routine of frequent changes based on caste, religion and other political considerations, though the list reveals a deft political balance.
The sources said it is a firm endorsement of developmental politics that the prime minister champions and that the selection was based on the new ministers' professional expertise, experience at both the Centre and states and the "youth factor."
PM Modi To visit four African Nations Beginning By July 7
The MEA official said that the Prime Minister is also expected to visit Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg and Durban in South Africa.
Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7 to July 11. (Source: File/ANI photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit four African nations namely Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7 to 11.
Addressing a weekly press conference, MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “Prime Minister Modi would be visiting Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7 to July 11. On July 7th, he will have bilateral discussions with President Filipe Nyusi to strengthen our bilateral ties and enhance development and cooperation,”
“From July 8th to 9th in South Africa, the Prime Minister will have meetings with President Jacob Zuma and other senior leaders across the political spectrum to enhance our historical relations with South Africa,” he added.
PM Narendra Modi Reviews Each Minister, Every 3 Months
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a five-hour-long meeting with his entire Council of Ministers to review how every department of his government has spent every rupee allocated to it since June 2014. And at the end of the meet, PM Modi indicated to his ministers that they can't sit easy as he will hold a similar exercise every three months.
The meeting started at 4 PM and ended at 9 PM. At the end of it, PM Modi asked his ministers to think out of the box to ensure that the benefit of allocations from budgets reach the last denominator. He also asked ministries which were trailing in performance to do better.
PM Modi asked ministers to cut delays in implementation of schemes and projects. "The PM, without speaking about any ministry in particular, said there is delay in implementation of some project. He said that the impact of policies improves if we cut down the delays."
There are a total of 42 key departments in the Government of India. The meeting involved a review of how every department has implemented and how fruitfully allocations were made under the last three budgets the NDA government has presented.
The Finance Secretary and secretaries of respective departments made detailed presentations of over 100 pages to ministers to back up their departments' performance.
PM Modi asked them to do better. If his government has attracted political attacks for not keeping promises made in the party manifestos, he asked the ministers to read up the campaign documents and shape and implement policies to ensure that the public trusts what the party promises them during campaign.
The review made it evident that the targets fixed for 2014-15 were met. The PM urged the ministers to ensure that the agenda for 2015-16 if incomplete should be delivered and work should begin in earnest to ensure that 2016-17 is better in terms of delivery.
PM Modi has been holding a meeting of his council every month. But these monthly meets were only to review the performance of only four-five ministries and departments.
Yesterday's meet had heightened the speculation about a long awaited cabinet rejig by PM Modi. Sources in the government had indicated that the PM is holding the review as a measure to gauge how ministers have performed.
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