NEW DELHI: There were over 10 crore cyber attacks since the Pahalgam terror strike, PM Narendra Modi is learnt to have told ministers and secretaries on Wednesday while asking every department and officer to be on alert and take quick measures.
The PM’s message came weeks after the National Informatics Centre (NIC) asked ministries and departments to take preventive steps against cyber attacks. “He suggested that there is a need to be alert and make efforts at every level to defeat such attacks in the changed method of warfare. Departments and officials need to act quickly rather than leaving it only to the NIC,” a source said.
During the council of ministers meeting, Modi directed ministries and department heads to focus on aspirational districts and blocks and instruct their officers to spend at least 24 hours there. He also suggested that some share of MGNREGS funds should be for works to conserve water and said the focus for the next four years would be on “qualitative improvement” to meet people’s aspirations.
Officials who attended the meeting said Modi stressed on making infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and police stations, “world class”. “The PM said people backed him during demonetisation, Covid-19 pandemic and gave up benefits under the subsidised LPG connection scheme, indicating citizens appreciate good work. He said programmes and projects must be outcome oriented and of high quality,” a source said.
Modi also stressed on the need to pay attention to public grievances and addressing them. PM shared how in PMO, 32 officers were identified and each of them read out the complete contents of 10 complaints. grievances were read out completely. “The message was we need to give full attention to grievances and must not dismiss them quickly,” said an official.