Govt officials told to prepare report card, avoid foreign travel

Days before a Narendra Modi-led government takes charge, the cabinet secretary has asked government officials to prepare a report card on the performance of the now-defunct United Progressive Alliance administration and to avoid foreign travel.

Cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth has written to the secretaries of all ministries and departments asking them not to travel abroad this week unless it is to attend most important matters, in which case they must seek written approval.

Seth has called a meeting of all secretaries later today to discuss presentations being prepared by various government departments for the new prime minister.

He has asked all central government secretaries to pen down what should and shouldn't have been done by the previous government and also provide "four or five practical goals/achievements" which can be pursued "for the next five years" if "freedom is given" to the bureaucrats, according to a PTI report that cited sources.

Officials have also been asked to furnish top achievements of their respective ministries in the last 10 years and the gap between intentions of the plan and actual result.