Had insightful discussions on governance, reforms at chief secretaries' meet: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a national conference of chief secretaries where he had insightful discussions on various issues relating to governance and reforms, officials said.
The conference marked another important milestone in strengthening the Centre-state partnership through structured and sustained dialogue on national development priorities, they said.
"Had insightful discussions on various issues relating to governance and reforms during the National Conference of Chief Secretaries being held in Delhi," Modi wrote on X.
The event was attended by P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, principal secretaries to the prime minister, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, members of the NITI Aayog, and chief secretaries of all the states and Union territories.
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Based on the extensive deliberations between the Central ministries, departments, NITI Aayog, states and UTs and domain experts, the conference will deliberate on the theme 'Human Capital for Viksit Bharat', covering the best practices and strategies for the states and UTs to follow, over the weekend.
Special emphasis is being placed on five key areas: early childhood education, schooling, skilling, higher education, sports and extracurricular activities.
According to the schedule of the conference, six special sessions will be held over the weekend on deregulation in states; technology in governance: opportunities, risks and mitigation; agristack for smart supply chain and market linkages; one state, one world class tourist destination; Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Swadeshi and plans for a Left Wing Extremism future.
Besides, focused deliberations would be held on heritage and manuscript preservation and digitisation and 'Ayush for All - Integrating Knowledge in Primary Healthcare Delivery'.
Anchored in the prime minister's vision of cooperative federalism, the conference serves as the forum where the Centre and the states collaborate, designing a unified roadmap to maximise India's human capital potential and accelerate inclusive, future-ready growth.
The national conference of chief secretaries is being organised annually since the past four years.
The first edition was held in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, in June 2022, followed by conferences in New Delhi in January 2023, December 2023 and December 2024.
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Russian First Deputy PM Manturov meets PM Modi; discusses trade, energy ties
New Delhi (PTI): Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in areas of investment, energy and industrial cooperation.
Manturov, on a two-day visit to India, also held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The Russian embassy said Modi and Manturov discussed "specific steps to implement agreements reached" during the India-Russia summit held in December last.
"Particular attention was paid to further strengthening Russia-India trade, economic, investment, energy and industrial cooperation," it said on social media.
In their meeting, Doval and Manturov were learnt to have discussed bilateral defence cooperation besides the evolving regional security situation.
The Russian first deputy PM's visit to New Delhi comes days after India cleared procurement of a fresh batch of five S-400 missile systems from Russia.
The decision to procure the additional batch of five S-400 air defence missile systems was taken against the backdrop of the missile system proving its capability during Operation Sindoor.
The missile system played a crucial role in India's dominance over Pakistan during the May 7-10 hostilities last year.
In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
In the talks, the two sides are also expected to exchange views on the West Asia conflict and its impact on global economy, especially on the energy sector.
It is learnt that both sides also reviewed the implementation of decisions taken at the summit talks between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in last December.
Following talks between the two leaders, India and Russia unveiled a raft of measures including a five-year roadmap to build a robust economic partnership and to increase the annual trade to USD 100 billion by 2030.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week lauded India's "independent foreign policy" and said that Russia looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi for a visit this year.
In an address at a conference titled 'India and Russia: Towards a new bilateral agenda', he said the "time-tested" friendship between the two countries is a model on interstate relations based on mutual trust and respect.
