Asian foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government potential role in Modi's pet smart city project. Earlier Modi played host to Singaporean Minister for Foreign and Law K. Shanmugam where he recalled his policies as Gujarat chief minister to expand cooperation between the two countries in, amongst others, public housing for the middle and lower classes based on Singapore's expertise. The former Singaporean prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, visited India on 10 September and held several high-level meetings with the Indian prime minister and other ministers; later in conversation with a selected members from the media he referred to the former Indian prime minister, Vajpeyee, as a scholar,
Narendra Modi 2000 crore for a government-funded health insurance program, and a decrease in the budget of the National Health Mission. Modi initially appointed Harsh Vardhan, a doctor and an advocate of tobacco control, as minister of health. However, Vardhan was replaced in November 2014 by Jagat Prakash Nadda. The government introduced stricter packaging laws for tobacco which requires 85% of the packet size to be covered by pictorial warnings. An article in the medical journal "Lancet" stated that the country "might have taken a few steps back in public health" under Modi. A new National Health Policy was approved in 2017.