Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The govt is set to give a renewed push to reforms amid the ongoing West Asia crisis to accelerate the agenda of reducing the compliance burden and simplification of rules and procedures for ease of doing business and ease of living.It is learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called a meeting of the Council of Ministers on May 21 for the purpose.Secretaries from nearly a dozen departments, including DPIIT, agriculture, commerce, health, power, environment and forest, labour, road transport and atomic energy, are likely to make presentations at the meeting. The focus is also likely to be on people-centric reforms in laws, policies, notifications, rules and regulations that each ministry has undertaken in the third term of the Modi-led NDA govt.Simplification and deregulation will be the overriding theme at the meeting, officials indicated.The last meeting of the Council of Ministers was held on June 4, 2025.The PM had announced that the govt was on a “reforms express” and asked departments to move ahead on that path, something which was evident in the Budget too. But the agenda was overtaken by the West Asia war, prompting key ministries to get into firefighting mode to combat adverse impact of the conflict.Experts have underlined the need to pursue reforms along with handling challenges posed by the West Asia crisis. They have argued that just as the govt had used Covid to push through much-needed reforms, it should not let go of this opportunity.People aware of the developments said that the presentations are aimed at making the Council of Ministers aware of reforms that the govt has undertaken in the past two years while discussing the way forward. Some of the issues flagged by two high-level committees led by Niti Aayog member Rajiv Gauba are also expected to be taken up.Earlier, each ministry had submitted details of “major reforms” undertaken by them from June 2024 and their benefits and impacts — to push forward the govt’s reform agenda.
