[Manish Kumar Gupta]
Introduced in 2015, PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) is a digital platform anchored in the prime minister’s office that brings together the prime minister, union secretaries, and chief secretaries of states on a single forum for periodic review of major projects and public grievances.
Since its inception, over 50 such PRAGATI review meetings have been held, reflecting sustained high-level engagement in project and grievance resolution. Unlike conventional review mechanisms, PRAGATI integrates real-time project data, visual dashboards, and structured escalation pathways, enabling issues to be identified, discussed, and resolved at the appropriate institutional level. Its purpose is not merely to track progress, but to remove bottlenecks that stall implementation.
In addition, PRAGATI serves as an integrated review platform for key national systems such as PM GatiShakti, PARIVESH and the Prime Minister’s Reference Portal, enabling convergence across project monitoring, clearances and grievance review.
At the national level, PRAGATI has reviewed over 3,300 major projects with a cumulative investment exceeding Rs 85 lakh crore, alongside dozens of flagship government schemes and sector-wide issues. These include reviews of over 61 major government schemes, such as One Nation-One Ration Card, PM Jan Arogya Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, PM SVANidhi and Swachh Bharat Mission.
A case study by Oxford University’s Said Business School describes PRAGATI as a transformative digital governance platform that strengthens senior-level accountability and accelerates the resolution of long-delayed infrastructure and social sector projects. The study highlights how structured, high-level coordination under PRAGATI has helped unlock stalled projects by addressing inter-ministerial and inter-governmental bottlenecks.
In Arunachal Pradesh, geographical remoteness, fragile ecology, land and forest clearances, logistical constraints, and multi-agency coordination challenges have historically slowed project execution. Delivering such large infrastructure projects in India’s frontier states is a complicated process. It is in this context that PRAGATI has emerged as a governance instrument helping convert intent into outcomes through structured oversight, technology-enabled monitoring, and high-level accountability.
For Arunachal, PRAGATI’s relevance is particularly pronounced. The state currently has 80 large infrastructure projects, with an estimated investment of Rs 4.29 lakh crore, under monitoring within the PMG-PRAGATI ecosystem. Of these, 22 high-value projects, amounting to over Rs 1.08 lakh crore, have been reviewed directly under PRAGATI at the national level. These projects span across roads and highways, power generation and transmission, oil and gas, railways, aviation, defence infrastructure, and digital connectivity sectors that are foundational to Arunachal’s economic integration and strategic development.
The most tangible measure of PRAGATI’s effectiveness in Arunachal lies in issue resolution. Across 26 projects in the state, 136 implementation issues were raised, primarily relating to land acquisition, right of way, forest and environmental clearances, utility shifting, and inter-agency approvals. Of these, 126 issues – over 92% – have been resolved, with the remaining under active follow-up. Among projects reviewed directly under PRAGATI, 113 out of 121 issues have already been addressed. These outcomes point to structured, time-bound decision-making enabled by a clear escalation framework rather than routine administrative processing.
A closer look at the nature of issues resolved reinforces PRAGATI’s value. The bulk of bottlenecks in Arunachal relate to forest and wildlife clearances, land acquisition, and right-of-use permissions. These are major areas where delays often arise due to jurisdictional overlaps, rather than policy gaps. PRAGATI’s multi-tier follow-up mechanism ensures that such issues do not remain trapped within departmental silos. Decisions taken at review meetings are tracked through ministries, project monitoring groups, and state authorities, with unresolved matters escalated systematically up to the highest level when required.
PRAGATI’s broader contribution is also visible in how it reshapes administrative behaviour. By linking technology with executive authority, it shortens decision cycles, reduces information asymmetry, and creates a single source of truth for project status. Nationally, PRAGATI-led systems have resolved thousands of issues across sectors, reflecting sustained improvements in inter-ministerial and Centre-state coordination. For a state like Arunachal, where delays can disproportionately affect connectivity, service delivery, and investment sentiment, this predictability is transformative.
Beyond infrastructure, PRAGATI’s linkage with citizen grievance redress mechanisms enables issues raised at the grassroots to inform broader administrative correction, reinforcing trust in public institutions. This convergence of project monitoring and grievance responsiveness reflects a governance approach that prioritises outcomes over process.
As India continues to expand infrastructure in strategically important and geographically challenging regions, Arunachal’s experience offers a clear lesson. Technology-enabled coordination, when combined with political and administrative ownership, can overcome structural constraints without compromising due process. PRAGATI demonstrates that delays are not inevitable; they are often the result of fragmented responsibility.
For Arunachal, PRAGATI’s impact goes beyond speeding up individual projects. It has helped embed a culture of coordination, accountability, and timely decision-making within the administrative system. In the process, it has enhanced the state’s ability to convert ambitious plans into lasting assets, creating stronger foundations for connectivity, growth, and integration with the national economy. (The contributor of the article is the chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh)
