Gati Shakti: Connecting the silos

The Gati Shakti National Master Plan unveiled by the prime minister marks a rather historic shift in how India wishes to henceforth conduct the business of developing infrastructure.

The prime minister, in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, had indicated that this initiative would be integrative and transformational. It would seek to enhance multi-modal linkages, increase competitiveness and provide a linked platform for rolling out various infrastructure projects as part of a grand master plan.

So, what exactly is Gati Shakti? Well, it is a platform based on geographic information system or GIS that will connect all economic zones and clusters in the country. Superim­posed on the platform will be layers of infrastructure linkages that are required to make an economy function effectively. These include road and rail links, optical fibre cables, oil and gas pipelines, power transmission lines, water supply pipes and suchlike. The platform is also expected to be a dynamic master planning tool for project design and monitoring by providing regular updates by authorised institutions and personnel. It will have review dashboards, management information system generation facilities and compliance tools. 

This entire platform has been developed by the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG). BISAG is a Gandhinagar-based autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology that undertakes projects in satellite communication, geo-informatics and geo-spatial technologies. 

In the master plan that has been put in place, all existing and proposed economic zones have been mapped, along with all their multi-modal connectivity infrastructure, across three periods: Status on 2014-15, status by expected completion date in 2020-21 and planned interventions by 2024-25.

There are four key reasons why it is indeed “transformational” and dramatically changes the way infrastructure is going to be rolled out.
 

One, it breaks the “silo culture.” Typically, each ministry or department rolls out its own plans and programmes irrespective of the linkages with others. So, roads would be built without great thought on their linkages with rail, or those laying optical fibres and water pipes would start digging without reference to each other. More importantly, complementary linkages would be missing. For example, a hydro or renewable power generating station would be ready with no transmission line in sight. Or a port would be operating with inadequate road and rail linkages. Such anomalies, hopefully, will be a thing of the past. Sanctions and approvals for individual projects of different line ministries will now be viewed from the perspective of conformity to the Gati Shakti National Master Plan. 

Two, it forces an integrative approach. To achieve synchronisation and compatibility it now mandates all statal entities to compulsorily enter their planned projects into the Gati Shakti platform. For this purpose, a fresh administrative architecture has been created alongside. Individual ministries will be trained to use the system and be given user-rights to input and update all their data through an application programming interface. BISAG and the logistics division of the Ministry of Commerce will anchor a Network Planning Group (NPG) that will have the responsibility of ensuring proper functioning of the platform and providing user assistance. The NPG will bring into its fold a new cadre of trained officers representing the network and planning cells of their respective ministries. This group will be the new-age planners interacting with each other, inputting data, synchronising plans and supporting their bosses. Officers from these ministries will be placed on deputation to the logistics division. They will be the new digitally-empowered cadre of whizz-kids of the country’s infrastructure rollout! An empowered group of secretaries under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary is proposed to be constituted for approving any future changes in the basic master plan.

Three, it ensures optimum use of available finances.  Currently, there are no inter-linkages by which the Ministry of Finance provides sanctions and resources. Standalone projects get cleared because of their own perceived viability. Henceforth, clearance by NPG is expected to be the key determinant for considering sanction.

Four, it achieves digitally what an overarching Ministry of Infrastructure was often envisaged to deliver. The government has wisely harnessed the power of software, technology and native creativity to unify a diverse clutch of economic activity, historically bundled under different ministries, into an all-encompassing tech-driven platform. To start with, 15 ministries are involved, namely roads, railways, shipping, civil aviation, petroleum, power, renewable energy, telecommunications, food processing, fisheries, animal husbandry, dairying, defence production, electronics & information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and commerce and industry.

It is clearly ambitious in its scale and delivery expectations. What are the challenges involved? The first is clearly “team-work.” Ministries and government departments are notorious for being inward-looking and holding on to their turf. Will this mandated participative framework be truly embraced, or will clever ways be found to beat the system and bypass the integrative requirements? 

Will states come on board? Without that the integration at the Central level may be sub-optimal.  Will the technology deliver in practical terms to configure and review projects, and will the platform indeed be the wonder-tool it is expected to be?

There is talk of having the Gati Shakti programme initiate changes in the administrative framework at the ground level. If each economic cluster is indeed going to show up as a bundle of coordinated linkages, then should not such zones have dedicated development commissioners instead of district magistrates and collectors with many other diverse responsibilities?

No doubt, such issues will be handled as Gati Shakti seeps into the DNA of administration, replacing decades of working in unitary formats. Along with the National Single Window System of clearances, Gati Shakti signals a bold and new way of developing the country. 

The writer is an infrastructure sector expert and chairman of CII’s National Council on Infrastructure. 

Views are personal