How India functions under Modi – Part One

Reuters photo

 

By

Ratnesh Dwivedi

 

The Information Office of the Prime Minister of India

 

Background:

Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of India. He took oath as the Prime Minister of India on 26th May 2014 becoming the first ever PM to be born after India attained Independence. Ever since he assumed office in May 2014, PM Modi has embarked on a journey of all-round and inclusive development where every Indian can realize their hopes and aspirations. He remains deeply inspired by the principle of ‘Antyodaya’, of serving the last person in the queue.

 

Website of the PMO: http://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/

Twitter Handle: @PMO India

Facebook Page: PMO India

 

The Organization:

 

Information office of the Prime Minister of India is taken care of by three different offices –

 

• Prime Minister’s Unit at the Press Information Bureau

• Public Relations Officer at the PMO

• Information Officer at the PMO

 

 

It is important to note here that there is another office at the PMO named the office of Central Public Information Officer (currently held by Praveen Kumar). This office looks only at the Right to Information related queries that reach the PMO.

 

The press and media related affairs are handled by the above three offices.

 

Let us have a look at the complete PMO first.

 

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) consists of the immediate staff of the Prime Minister of India, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the Prime Minister. The PMO is headed by the Principal Secretary, currently Nripendra Misra. It is part of the Government of India located in the South Block of the Secretariat Building.

 

 

Nripendra Mishra-Brain behind all big things; Modi’s Principal Advisor – Photo/Ramesh Pathania

 

The PMO provides secretarial assistance to the Prime Minister. It is headed by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The PMO includes the anti-corruption unit and the public wing dealing with grievances. The office houses the Prime Minister and a few selected officers of the Indian Civil Service who work with him to manage and coordinate government and his office. The Prime Minister through his office coordinates with all ministers in the central union cabinet, minister of independent charges and governors and ministers of state government. The PMO is located at the South Block of the Secretariat Building.

The subject matter of files required to be submitted to the Prime Minister depends on whether he is holding direct charge of the Ministry or whether there is a Cabinet Minister or Minister of State (Independent Charge) in charge of the Ministry. In the case of the latter, most matters are dealt with by the Cabinet Minister/Minister of State-in-charge. Only important policy issues, which the Minister concerned feels should be submitted to the Prime Minister for orders or information, are received in the PMO.

In cases where the Prime Minister is the Minister-in-charge, all matters requiring Ministerial approval not delegated to the Minister of State/Deputy Minister, if any, are submitted for orders. The Prime Minister has traditionally been the Minister-in-charge of the Departments of Space, Atomic Energy, and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

 

Ajit Doval: Man in Action (Modi’s National Security Advisor) – Photo/IT

 

Some of the important matters that require the Prime Minister’s personal attention include the following:

 

1. Important defence-related issues;

2. Decorations, both civilian and defence, where Presidential approval is required;

3. All important policy issues;

4. Proposals for appointment of Indian Heads of Missions abroad and requests for grant of agreement for foreign Heads of Missions posted to India;

5. All important decisions relating to the Cabinet Secretariat;

6. Appointments to State Administrative Tribunals and the Central Administrative Tribunal, UPSC, Election Commission, Appointment of members of statutory/constitutional Committees, Commissions attached to various Ministries;

7. All policy matters relating to the administration of the Civil Services and administrative reforms;

8. Special Packages announced by the Prime Minister for States are monitored in the PMO and periodical reports submitted to Prime Minister; and

9. All judicial appointments for which Presidential approval is required.

 

 

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) directly comes under PMO.

 

• Important Officers at the PMO

 

 

Office of the Prime Minister of India
Name	Designation	Rank
Ajit Kumar Doval	National Security Adviser	Minister of State Rank
Nripendra Misra	Principal Secretary
Rajeev Topno	Private Secretary
SanjivSingla	Private Secretary
Anurag Jain	Joint Secretary

 

 

Complete list of officers at the PMO – As of 10/04/2017

 

 

Designations	Officer Name	Telephone
Principal Secretary to PM	Sh. Nripendra Misra	23013040
National Security Advisor	Sh. AjitDoval KC	23019227
Addl. Principal Secretary to PM	Dr. P. K. Mishra	23014844
Secretary to PM	Sh. BhaskarKhulbe	23010838
Joint Secretary to PM	Dr. T. V. Somanathan	23013024
	Sh. Tarun Bajaj	23793308
	Sh. Arvind Kumar Sharma	23015944
	Sh. Anurag Jain	23014547
	Ms. Debashree Mukherjee	23018485
	Sh. Vinay Mohan Kwatra	23016308
	Sh. V. Sheshadri	23013485
	Sh. BrajendraNavnit	23012613
Private Secretary to PM	Sh. Rajeev Topno	23012312
	Sh. Sanjeev Kumar Singla	23012312
Director	Ms. Namgya C. Khampa	23793404
	Dr.ShrikarKeshavPardeshi	23018040
Director (RTI)	Sh. Syed EkramRizwi	23074072
Deputy Secretary	Sh. MayurMaheshwari	23017676
	Ms. NandiniPaliwal	23013132
	Sh. Brijesh Pandey	23013586
	Sh. Vivek Kumar	23010849
	Sh. Ajit Kumar	23017367
	Sh. Vijay Kumar Mantri	23017442
	Sh. Siddhartha Nath	–
Public Relations Officer	Sh. J.M. Thakkar	23016920
Information Officer	Sh. SharatChander	23016920
OSD (IT)	Dr. Hiren Joshi	23014208
OSD (R&S)	Sh. Pratik Doshi	23018876
OSD (A&T)	Sh. Sanjay R. Bhavsar	23018939
OSD (MR)	Sh. Ashutosh Narayan Singh	23016920
Deputy Secretary (Pers)	Sh. ChandreshSona	23018632
Joint Director (OL)	Ms. Purnima Sharma	23015236
Under Secretary (US)	Ms. Aishvarya Singh	23017927
Under Secretary (Admin)	Sh. Agni Kumar Das	23018130
Under Secretary (Pers)	Sh. Pushpendra Kumar Sharma	23018939
Under Secretary (Funds)	Sh. P. K. Bali	23013683
Under Secretary (Public)	Sh. Ambuj Sharma	23014155
Under Secretary (RTI)	Sh. Parveen Kumar	23382590
Under Secretary (Pol)	Sh. Avinash Kumar Sinha	23010976
Under Secretary (Parl)	Sh. Biplab Kumar Roy	23017530
Reference Officer	Sh. Nilesh Kumar Kalbhor	23014021
Research Officer	Dr.Nirav K. Shah	23012661
	Sh. Yash Rajiv Gandhi	23014208

 

 

 

Mode of Operation

As said above, the Information Office of the Prime Minister of India is taken care of by three different offices –

 

• Prime Minister’s Unit at the Press Information Bureau – The PIB takes care of the publicity of all the ministries within the cabinet. Since the Prime Minister also is a minister, there is a senior dedicated office at the PIB that looks after the PM’s publicity.

Presently Mr Atul Tiwari is in charge. Email – [email protected]

 

• Public Relations Officer at the PMO –

MR J M Thakkar is in charge. Phone number is 011-23016920

 

• Information Officer at the PMO

Mr SharatChander is in charge. Phone number is 011-23016920

 

The policies regarding media are monitored by the PIB as they give accreditations to senior media personnel who cover the government of India.

 

Prime Minister’s Office and China

 

According to senior journalist and foreign policy expert Mr Prem Shankar Jha, PM Modi’s closeness with the U.S. has disrupted India’s ties with China.

“Modi has turned India into a military and diplomatic ally of the U.S. In China’s eyes, this has transformed India from a like-minded country that shared its opposition to the US’s attempt to create a unipolar world, into an adversary.”

According to another report by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Modi’s China policy is a balancing act between reality and rhetoric.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy towards China can be best described as a balancing act displaying elements of pragmatism and realism. India has sought closer ties with countries like the US and Japan, but has simultaneously also displayed its willingness to accommodate Chinese interests in the region. After the initial euphoria over the prospects of strengthening the bilateral ties, Modi’s China policy has been remarkably re-shaped by the changing ground realities, with the Indian establishment waking up to the dangers of moving too fast and too soon on its China policy.”

 

There have been many occasions when PM Modi has extended warm wishes to the Chinese community.

 

PM’s post on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo

Oct 01, 2016

My greetings to the people of China on the occasion of your National Day.

 E. Mr. MengJianzhu, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China met PM

Nov 09, 2016

E. Mr. MengJianzhu, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today.

PM to visit Vietnam; to attend Annual G-20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, China

Sep 02, 2016

PM would be visiting Vietnam from 2nd September 2016 to 3rd September 2016. PM will also be attending Annual G-20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, China from 3rd September 2016 to …

Call on PM by Mr. Han Zheng, Party Secretary of Shanghai and Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China

May 05, 2016

Mr. Han Zheng, Party Secretary of Shanghai and Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today.

PM greets people of China, Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam, on the Lunar New Year Celebrations

Feb 08, 2016

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted people of China, Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam, on the Lunar New Year Celebrations.

 

Photo/AFP

 

 

PM’s bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit

 

Nov 21, 2015

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today met the Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Li Keqiang, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr. Li Yuanchao, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China meets PM

Nov 06, 2015

Mr. Li Yuanchao, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ratnesh Dwivedi

Ratnesh Dwivedi transferred his skills of the Media Industry into his passion for writing, teaching and commenting on Global Affairs. He has seen the changing face of global politics as a budding media professional who regularly comments on the changing equation between U.S., Middle East and South Asia. He has been writing on the U.S. led strike on Iraq and post war reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later he continued his association with President George W Bush as a Charter Member of the George W Bush Presidential Center, Texas. The center is home to documentation of President Bush’s double tenure and consists of a library and museum.

Apart from his association with the Bush Center, Ratnesh Dwivedi is associated with several other organizations. He is Chapter Member with the Internet Society, a global non-profit organization which works for popularity of the internet. Ratnesh is also associated with
the European Communication Research and Education Association, a premier media research organization in Europe. He is also an Individual Member with the Institute of English Studies, University of London and has a non-member status with the American Astronomical Society.

He has authored five books. ‘The Story of an Intern’ is a reportage book of the struggle of an intern in the big bad media world, while ‘The Cosmic Mask’ is a compilation of nine space fiction stories which he self published with an Amazon company. Third and fourth are awarded academic books. His fifth book on US Intelligence and Cost of War was released in 2015.

Ratnesh Dwivedi bears the honor of attending several high rated workshops of NASA and continuously follows NASA updates. Ratnesh loves to be categorized as a prolific writer, commentator and academician.

Ratnesh Dwivedi attained his Masters Degree from the University of Lucknow in Journalism and Mass Communication in 1999 and is currently pursuing a doctorate on “International Terrorism and Television Channels: Operation and Regulation of Television Channels During Coverage of 9/11 and 26/11” from Amity University, India under the supervision of Dr Sarah T Partlow, Director and Professor at Idaho State University, U.S.

He has been associated with Amity University, where he led a project to set up Community Radio Station and TV Studio apart from his teaching assignment. He is widely published academician in the field of Media and Communication with nearly 30 publications and presentations in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Britain, USA and India.

He is serving as Director-CRS at Teerthankar Mahaveer University in India. He is Consultant with a NJ, a U.S. based Energy Firm, Advisors Energy Group and serves as Country Manager-India with London, UK based Cyber Security Firm-Orion-SAS. He reports for a China based think tank and contributes for global online magazine Tuck. He is Head of India with an Italian based CounterTerrorism entity which works with partner agencies around the globe. He lives in New Delhi with his wife and son.