Ahead Of Annual Conference, TV Somanathan Holds Virtual Meet With State Chief Secretaries

Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan recently held a video conference with top bureaucrats of the state governments and Union Territories (UTs) to review the preparations for the event. 

While this is an annual routine affair, the forthcoming meeting has assumed unparalleled significance in the wake of the current over 50 per cent tariff slapped by the US.

The worst impacted would be the states with the highest number of exporting MSMEs (micro small and medium enterprises). The MSME sector accounts for more than 46 per cent of India’s total exports. 

According to Invest India, there are about 6.3 crore MSMEs currently operating, contributing 33.4 per cent to India's manufacturing output. The uncertainty related to tariffs has already started to hit these businesses. 

Platform For Democratic Federalism

The event has become a key platform for high-level interactive deliberations between the Centre and the states in the spirit of cooperative federalism. It also provides a platform for initiating governance reform, infrastructure planning and modernising administration.

The annual meet was launched in June 2022 in Dharamshala. Since then, it has been held in New Delhi — the second in January 2023, the third in December 2023. 

The fourth conference, held over December 13-15, 2024 — with the theme “Promoting Entrepreneurship, Employment, and Skilling: Leveraging the Demographic Dividend” — focused on cooperative federalism for accelerated growth and development. 

The dates of this year's conference — the fifth, are yet to be declared — all we know is that it will be sometime in November. This year's edition — which will, once again, be chaired by PM Modi — is expected to focus on building and leveraging ‘Human Capital for Viksit Bharat’.

Agenda For Viksit Bharat

Sources said the deliberations held by Somanathan during the virtual meet revolved around the progress on deregulation of outdated laws, They added that the Cabinet Secretary stressed on the pivotal roles states need to play in shaping effective governance reforms.

He also asked state chief secretaries to submit timely state-specific reports on governance issues. The sources said all states and UTs have been directed to compile and upload their feedback reports specific to the deliberations and action points decided in the previous conference.

The state Chief Secretaries were also asked to submit five focused reports that highlight policy challenges critical to governance, as well as changes and innovations needed in their respective regions, they added. 

A source in the know said, “During the deliberations, Somanathan pointed out that some states are yet to appoint nodal officers to coordinate and upload the required documents, and directed the Chief Secretaries to do so immediately, to ensure seamless coordination ahead of the conference.”

Improving Ease Of Doing Business

According to the sources, the conference is also going to include discussions on the deregulation of outdated and redundant laws — a key reform area pushed by the Union government — to improve ease of doing business in the country by reducing bureaucratic hurdles and ensuring citizen-centric governance.

Noting that the 5th edition would look at ‘life cycle’ approach to education, the sources said states are going to be asked to take stock of the current status and scenario of education in their respective regions, the challenges they faced, solution pathways and time-bound action plans, to ensure qualitative improvement across all geographies.