PM Modi to Chair Key Meeting With All Central Ministry Secretaries At 4 PM; Governance Reforms On Agenda

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level meeting with Secretaries of all Central Ministries and Departments on Tuesday at 4 pm, after returning on Monday after concluding his three-day visit to the Seychelles.

What is the meeting about?

Secretaries of all Central Ministries and Departments will brief the Prime Minister on the functioning of their respective Ministries and Departments in terms of possible reforms as well as efforts towards 'Ease of Living', 'Ease of Doing Business' and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' for citizens.

The Prime Minister had chaired a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on May 21, just hours after returning from a five-nation visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.

Why is the meeting important?

Tuesday's meeting comes amid speculation about a Union Cabinet reshuffle. The Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government completed two years in its third term on June 9. The Prime Minister has not yet reshuffled his cabinet during this term. He previously reshuffled and expanded the Union Cabinet in July 2016 and July 2021.

Apart from the Prime Minister's efforts to assess the functioning of the ministries and the reforms likely to be undertaken by the government in the coming months, the Union Cabinet Secretariat is also sending instructions to all ministries and departments to regularly update the details of the Cabinet and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) documents (notes).

In an office memorandum dated June 17 (the second such directive since May), the Cabinet Secretariat stated that "delays" and "deficiencies" have been observed in updating Cabinet and CCEA notes by some ministries and departments on the Inter-Ministerial Consultation (IMC) module of the government's "e-Samiksha." It said this data is used for assessment in preparing the monthly administrative scorecard.

In another office memorandum dated June 17, the Cabinet Secretariat had asked ministries and departments to expedite finalisation of Cabinet and Cabinet Committee notes relating to appraisal of schemes and projects and had also reprimanded them for holding frequent inter-ministerial consultations.

It states that if the sponsoring ministry or department agrees with the recommendations of the appraising bodies such as the Expenditure Finance Committee and the Public Investment Board, then fresh negotiations are not required. According to the office memorandum, in such cases, the sponsoring ministry or department will have to prepare a draft note with the approval of the concerned minister and send it to the Department of Expenditure within seven days for the approval of the Finance Minister. It states that the Department of Expenditure will have to convey its comments to the sponsoring ministry within seven days.

The Cabinet Secretariat on Regulation and Reforms constituted a High-Level Committee on Non-Financial Reforms (HLC-NFRR) in August 2025, chaired by Rajiv Gauba, former Cabinet Secretary (Cabinet Secretary) and NITI Aayog member. It also formed a Task Force on Regulation and Compliance Gaps, headed by K.K. Pathak, Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. Secretaries have also been asked to promote reforms and regulation in the states.