100 days of Modi govt: PM keeps a check on officers

At a time when the Narendra Modi government is completing 100 days in power, CNN-IBN gets you a look at how the NDA government led by the Prime Minister has re-energised the bureaucracy to end policy paralysis. One of the first decisions of the NDA government was to reach out to bureaucrats.

Officers of the central government now arrive for work at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi at 9 am sharp every day. Coming in late for work is out of the question especially when your boss can check on you any time. Soon after taking over, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu took a round of his ministry, catching many off guard and he pulled up the 80 odd officers who reported late for work.

Inside ministries, there is now a greater focus on cleanliness and hygiene. But the Prime Minister's message goes beyond these basic principles. He wants performance.

The new government says it wants to empower bureaucrats. In a first, the new Prime Minister took a meeting of all top secretaries and said they had his full support. Modi even shared his phone number with officials so that they could reach him directly.

So much so, the appointment of personal staff of ministers was vetted thoroughly by the Prime Minister's Office. Specific guidelines were issued by the government barring those who have served as ministerial staff during the UPA regime. On this ground, even Home Minister Rajnath Singh was denied his first choice of personal secretary.

But the Prime Minister's choice of choosing his own officers has raised questions. Narendra Modi's first decision was to bring an ordinance to amend rules for appointing his Principal Secretary Nripender Mishra, a move that was criticised by the Congress.

"These things are only for the media. A few members of the Vivekananda foundation like Nripender Mishra, Ajit Doval, PK Mishra found their way into the PMO. The Vivekananda foundation is RSS controlled. The people of India should understand what's happening," said Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed.

While Narendra Modi may have sent out the right message with his emphasis on a strong and efficient bureaucracy, it remains to be seen whether this will have any impact beyond Delhi where all the central ministries are located, especially in states where opposition parties are in power. Therefore, changing the working culture at the state and district level and proper implementation of key central schemes will be one of the big challenges for the new government.