Interacting via video conference with District Magistrates (DMs) of various districts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked them to work on time-bound targets for taking roads to all villages and ensuring ayushman cards, bank accounts, Ujjwala gas connection, insurance and pension housing for every household.

Calling for a two-year vision for every district, he suggested that every district could identify ten tasks to be completed in the next three months to improve ease of living for common people. Similarly, five tasks could be associated with the ”Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

The DMs shared their experiences which have led to an improvement in performance in their districts on a host of indicators. The PM sought direct feedback from them about the key steps taken by them which have resulted in success in the districts, and about the challenges faced by them in this endeavour.

He also asked them about how working under the aspirational districts programme has been different from their work done earlier. The officers discussed how ”Jan Bhagidari” has been a key factor behind this success. They spoke about how they kept people working in their team motivated on a daily basis, and made efforts to develop the feeling that they were not doing a job but were performing a service.

Modi noted that various factors led to a situation where aspirational districts, in the past, started lagging behind. In order to facilitate holistic development, special hand-holding was done for the aspirational districts. The situation has changed now as today, aspirational districts were eliminating the barriers of the progress of the country.

The PM also mentioned districts where excellent results have been obtained by the use of technology and innovation in the fields like malnutrition, clean drinking water and vaccination.

He noted that convergence was a major reason for the country’s success in the aspirational districts. All resources were the same, government machinery was the same, officials were the same but the results were different, he observed.

Modi drew the attention of the officers towards the changed mindset of New India. He reiterated that today the country’s goal was to achieve 100 per cent saturation of services and facilities.

He said the country was witnessing a silent revolution in the form of Digital India. No district should be left behind in this. He stressed the importance for digital infrastructure reaching every village and becoming a means of door-step delivery of services and facilities.

The PM said various ministries and departments of the government have prepared a list of 142 districts which were not so much lagging in development but were weak on one or two parameters. He emphasised the need to work with the same collective approach as was being done in the aspirational districts. “This is a new challenge for all the governments- the government of India, the state government, the district administration, and the government machinery. Now we have to meet this challenge together”, he said.