"Digital India" meet on July 1 turned out to an investment meet as the captains of the industry announced in 150 seconds allotted to each one of them how much investment they are going to make. It added to some Rs 26 lakh crore over next few years.  Some said in one year, some two years and some said over the next five years. Significantly, this time the captains also announced the jobs which will be created.

In any investment meet they talk of the investment in terms of rupees but never give employment figures, may be very rarely. I have a feel there must have been a nudge from some quarters to give these figures.

Jobs also added up to 80 lakhs as per media reports. Mind you these were the figures announced on the dias, it was mentioned by the PM that this does not include the figures of those, who are in audience. May be it could be more.

The numbers are mammoth, given the problems our country has in terms of joblessness and revenue. I have said it before and I repeat, lots of agreements/MOUs have been signed both in the country and abroad in the recent past. These figures are astronomical too. There is NO SYSTEM in place in public domain to monitor their status. Any announcement should be accompanied  by quarterly progress (if not monthly) eg a project of 100 crore to be completed in a year's time should have 4 components Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4!!!

Q1...10, Q2... 20, Q3... 30 AND Q4... 40...just for illustration. These figures will of course vary project and scheme-wise!

It is fine as long as these numbers are there and most importantly MONITORED. There is always a huge gap between announcement and implementation. The industry also faces lots of problems on the ground, land, statutory clearances, local issues, power, road, water etc etc.

This kind of a Q (if not M) monitoring will put pressure on the government as well. This will be a win win situation otherwise the government will face words vs realisation jibe much sooner than later. There should be a dedicated website to monitor these noble intentions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this M is not for Modi it is for Mobile (mobile age). But the MISSING M is Monthly monitoring!!!

Dr. G D Gautama is a retired IAS officer and presently serves as the State Information Commissioner of West Bengal