In a major move to empower Union ministries and departments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has abolished all the existing 9 Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoMs) and 21 Groups of Ministers (GoMs). This would expedite the process of decision making and usher in greater accountability in the system. The ministries and departments will now process the issues pending before the EGoMs and GoMs and take appropriate decisions at the level of ministries and departments itself.
Wherever the ministries face any difficulties, the Cabinet secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office will facilitate the decision making process.
The practice of instituting GoMs and EGoMs had begun under the NDA-1 Government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and continued under the UPA-1 and UPA-2 Governments under Manmohan Singh to facilitate coordination between ministries often headed by members of allies of the respective coalition governments. However, in effect, it stalled progress of most proposals and projects during the last regime.
