Prime Minister, Narendra Modi today held his 12th monthly video conference under his Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) initiative, with Union Secretaries of various Ministries and Chief Secretaries of States. Chief Secretary J&K, B R Sharma also participated in the video conference. During the conference, the Prime Minister reviewed progress of various ongoing schemes and programmes of the Union Government. Prime Minister while reviewing the progress of scholarship schemes for College and University students directed the Union Higher Education Secretary, to ensure that scholarships extended to the students are integrated with Aadhaar under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and any scholarship related grievance be disposed quickly so that students avail all the intended benefits in time. On the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission ‘Waste to Wealth Programme’, the Prime Minister urged focus on converting waste to compost and converting waste to energy. He said States should identify and adopt appropriate methods to process and dispose waste. He also advocated use of plastic waste in road construction. Prime Minister also reviewed the status of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) and progress achieved in reducing MMR and IMR in the country. India accounts for one fourth of the global TB burden and has the highest estimated number of TB patients. An estimated 2.2 lakh people die due to TB annually. On the occasion, Prime Minister asked the Union Health & Family Welfare Secretary to identify districts with higher prevalence of TB cases so that proper attention is given to them.
