Summary of this article
The government plans to engage senior citizens to mentor ITI students
The plan also includes engineering student volunteers for ITIs
The government's 23-point agenda targets the Viksit Bharat 2047 goal
The government plans to engage senior citizens in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) on an honorarium basis. During a high-level meeting on July 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Union government secretaries on the future action agenda related to infrastructure, security, connectivity, external affairs, and government reforms. The points discussed were subsequently formalised, and on July 29, Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan conveyed the directive to the secretaries, which outlined a 23-point action plan towards achieving the government’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ agenda. This includes governance, domestic technology, education, sports, industrial capacity, and more. Per an NDTV report, Somanathan instructed all secretaries to take immediate action on these points.
On August 20, PM Modi wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Chaired a high-level meeting with Secretaries to the Government of India and discussed the future action agenda of Ministries and Departments pertaining to Infrastructure and Connectivity, Security and External Affairs and other aspects of Governance. Emphasised the need for effective use of data and AI, wider engagement with universities as well as greater focus on research and innovation across sectors."
As a key part of the education overhaul and skilling, the action plan proposes to actively engage senior citizens as mentors in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). This initiative is designed to utilise the experience of seniors, especially as India’s population is projected to become older in the future. To complement the practical expertise of these senior mentors, the plan also suggests having final-year engineering student volunteers for two to three months to share their advanced technical knowledge with ITI students. This collaborative mentorship ecosystem, along with the structural reforms, including review of ITI syllabi, integrating skill courses at the school level, and creating employment, was discussed under the educational reform.
It is proposed to encourage younger children in schools and colleges to showcase their achievements. There is a greater focus on sports and identifying children at a young age. This includes collaboration between different ministries and departments, such as the sports and tourism ministries, the IT department, among others. Reportedly, to protect the youth, the My Bharat campaign and portal will be utilised to tackle drug addiction and implement a prevention system.
Beyond senior citizens' engagement, youth skilling, and sports, the agenda details other key reforms in technology, agriculture, and governance. To protect official data safety, ministries and departments are urged to adopt technology and artificial intelligence (AI) and use domestic messaging platforms, like Zoho, Sarvam, and Arattai. The points emphasise building in-house expertise and training officers in legislative drafting, tendering, dispute mechanisms, and other skills to reduce reliance on external consultants.
The agriculture reforms include a review of Agricultural university syllabi to match the regional climatic requirements and expanding irrigation for crop diversification, training agriculture students for installing solar panels on field boundaries to generate an additional source of income.
It also stressed reforming the pharmaceutical sector through process reforms and deregulation.
Overall, these points stress that Viksit Bharat should not remain a government program but become a goal of the common man, where everybody is involved in making India a developed country by 2047.
