How this tech platform fixes India’s infra delays without flooding Modi's desk | Today News

New Delhi: A technology-driven platform, managed by the Prime Minister’s Office to oversee and fast-track government projects in real time, has tracked over 3,300 major public projects and 61 schemes worth a staggering ₹85 trillion over the past decade.

However, government data shows that only a small fraction required direct intervention by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reflecting the system's effectiveness in resolving most bottlenecks at the ministerial and bureaucratic level.

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 remainder handled through line ministries, inter-ministerial coordination and state-level engagement, said cabinet secretary T.V. Somanathan at a press conference on the achievements of the platform since its launch.

PRAGATI stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, and was launched in March 2015.

However, Somanathan 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 reviews infrastructure projects, government schemes and citizen grievances by resolving inter-ministerial and Centre–state bottlenecks. Its 50th meeting was chaired by Modi on 31 December.

Somanathan, who was accompanied by a group of secretaries handling key departments such as power, roads, industry, and railways—which together account for most critical projects—said that the layered approach was aimed at preventing routine administrative issues from being centralised while ensuring that politically sensitive, high-value or long-pending projects receive top-level attention when required.

Under the framework, ministries are expected to clear most land, environmental, utility and right-of-way issues internally or in coordination with states, with only the most complex cases escalated for review by the prime minister.

Jaijit Bhattacharya, founder and president of the Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research (C-DEP), said, “PRAGATI has significantly strengthened India’s development delivery by fast-tracking stalled projects through high-level, technology-enabled monitoring. By breaking bureaucratic silos and enforcing accountability across Centre and states, it has shortened timelines for critical infrastructure. The platform has translated intent into execution, especially in roads, railways and public services. Overall, PRAGATI reflects a shift from execution paralysis to performance-driven governance.”

The platform has now become embedded in the government’s decision-making rather than functioning as a periodic review forum, Somanathan emphasised.

The data shared by the government shows that a total of 7,735 issues have been raised under the PRAGATI-led ecosystem so far, of which 7,156 issues have been resolved, with the pace of resolution accelerating after 2021.

An external study by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School has described PRAGATI as a global benchmark in digital governance, noting that its strength lies in combining decentralised resolution with senior-level accountability. With over 400 major projects still under implementation, the government official said that the focus would remain on strengthening ministerial ownership and state coordination, while reserving PM-level reviews for projects where delays carry high economic or strategic costs.

The cabinet secretary further said that a study would be conducted to assess the savings achieved in project implementation after the resolution of issues under PRAGATI.

He added that a training module is also in the works to familiarise young officers with project implementation and issue resolution, and that they would be trained at their administrative training institutes. The Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie is the training institute for Indian Administrative Service officers.

Among the officials present at the conference were power secretary Pankaj Agarwal, V. Uma Shankar from the ministry of road transport and highways, Amardeep Singh Bhatia from the department for promotion of industry and internal trade, Manoj Govil from the cabinet secretariat, Sanjay Jaju from the information and broadcasting ministry, and railway board chairman Satish Kumar.