New Delhi: A technology-driven platform, run by the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor and expedite government projects in real time, has tracked over 3,300 major public projects and 61 schemes worth staggering value. ₹85 trillion over the past decade.
But government data shows that only a small proportion required direct intervention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reflecting the system’s effectiveness in addressing most bottlenecks at the ministerial and bureaucratic levels.
Of the projects that met the escalation threshold under the PRAGATI platform, about 382 – roughly 10% – were taken up for review at the Prime Minister’s level, with the rest handled by line ministries, inter-ministerial coordination and engagement at the state level, Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan said at a press conference on the platform’s achievements since its launch.
PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation and was launched in March 2015.
No policy revision
Somanathan, however, clarified that there are no plans to revise the land acquisition policy despite it being a major source of delays in infrastructure projects nationwide.
PRAGATI is a technology-driven governance platform through which the Prime Minister evaluates infrastructure projects, government schemes and citizen grievances by addressing inter-ministerial and central government bottlenecks. Its 50th meeting was chaired by Modi on 31 December.
Somanathan, who was accompanied by a group of secretaries looking after key departments such as power, roads, industries and railways – which together constitute the most critical projects – said the layered approach was aimed at preventing the centralization of routine administrative matters while ensuring that politically sensitive, high-value or long-pending projects received top attention when needed.
Under this framework, ministries are expected to resolve most land, environment, service and right-of-way matters internally or in coordination with states, with only the most complex cases being escalated to the Prime Minister for consideration.
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Jaijit Bhattacharya, Founder and President, Center for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP) said, “PRAGATI has significantly enhanced India’s development delivery by fast-tracking stalled projects through technology-enabled high-level monitoring. By breaking down bureaucratic silos and enforcing accountability across the Center and states, it has shortened timelines for critical public services, particularly railways and critical utilities.” it reflects a shift from execution paralysis to performance-driven management.”
The platform has now become part of government decision-making, rather than acting as a forum for periodic reviews, Somanathan pointed out.
Data shared by the government shows that a total of 7,735 issues have been raised within the PRAGATI-led ecosystem so far, of which 7,156 have been resolved, with the pace of resolution accelerating beyond 2021.
Under direct control
Projects directly reviewed by the Prime Minister account for about 10% of this progress, with 382 PRAGATI projects, broken down into 637 packages or sections, taken up at the highest level. In these projects, 3,187 issues have been raised of which 2,958 have been resolved, which means that almost one issue is resolved every working day, Somanathan said.
An external study by Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford described PRAGATI as a global benchmark in digital governance, noting that its strength lies in combining a decentralized solution with higher-level accountability. With more than 400 major projects still underway, a government official said the focus would be on strengthening ministerial ownership and state coordination, reserving PM-level review for projects where delays carry high economic or strategic costs.
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The cabinet secretary further stated that after solving the problems within PRAGATI, a study will be prepared that will evaluate the savings achieved during the implementation of the projects.
He added that a training module is also being prepared to familiarize young officials with project implementation and problem solving, and that they will be trained in their administrative training institutes. The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie is a training institute for officers of the Indian Administrative Service.
Among the officials present at the conference were Power Minister Pankaj Agarwal, V. Uma Shankar of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Amardeep Singh Bhatia of the Department of Industrial Promotion and Domestic Trade, Manoj Govil of the Cabinet Secretariat, Sanjay Jaju of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Railway Board Chairman Satish Kumar.
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