2047 calling, ministries asked to draw up blueprints
Union ministries have been directed to draw up respective blueprints to break down the goals into five-year budgetary requirements for more efficient financial management
Trying to firm up its resolve to transition into a developed nation by the centenary year of Independence, New Delhi is formulating long, medium and near-term goals to reach that level of aspiration in a graded manner, The Economic Times has reported.
As a decentralised approach Union ministries have been directed to draw up respective blueprints to break down the goals into five-year budgetary requirements for more efficient financial management.
To achieve the transition, the focus areas include electric mobility, digitisation of payments infrastructure and high-speed expressways, officials told the newspaper. Other focus sectors include steps to increase farm produce, comprehensive soil surveys, imparting skill to the youth, recycling centres for electronic waste such as cell phones and computers, cars, fast output from auctioned mines, a reassessment of the country’s geological reserves, extracting higher output from the country’s manufacturing facilities and lower emission.
“All ministries are conducting fresh public consultations on both Vision 2047 and the nearer term goals,” a senior government official told the newspaper on conditions of anonymity.
Though the goal of all ministries would be divided in the near, medium and long term for better efficiency and management, the common thread that runs through them is the vision to trigger employment generation and achieve higher economic growth taking into account social progress and environment-friendliness.
Significantly, the plan of the government is to roll out sections of the plan in the first 100 days of the new government swearing in after the general elections.
The first inter-ministerial meeting with top officials to help define the goals that would lead the country to a developed nation status was held in the second fortnight of March 2024, a bureaucrat told the newspaper.
It was reported in the last week of March that senior government officials met representatives of multi-lateral funding agencies such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in New Delhi and requested them to tap into their vast knowledge of project implementation and provide inputs to India to help it in the journey towards the developed nation status.
It might be recalled that in December 2023 the Prime Minister unveiled the Viksit Bharat@2047 programme. The idea behind the exercise is also to have a projection for the spending these measures would involve in the long term, another official said.
“Intentions to introduce any future sops, or extend applicability of existing ones, also need to be spelt out in advance. Measurable outcomes need to be defined and tracked under the 2047 targets,” said an official.
The blueprint would include capital expenditure projections, production-linked incentive (PLI) disbursals, subsidy and all other sops necessary to breathe life into the process.
“Intentions to introduce any future sops, or extend applicability of existing ones, also need to be spelt out in advance. Measurable outcomes need to be defined and tracked under the 2047 targets,” said an official.