Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised the strategic importance of India's island wealth and stressed the potential for tourism in these areas. Chairing a high level meeting yesterday to review steps towards holistic development of islands, Mr Modi called for firming up plans for island development. <br/><br/>The Prime Minister said, solar energy should be used extensively in this exercise. During the meeting, Mr Modi was given a presentation on the vision for holistic development, which included inputs from NITI Ayog, Home Ministry and other senior officials. <br/><br/>The officials informed the Prime Minister that development activities shall be centred around basic infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, and carbon neutral energy generation. India has a total of 1382 offshore islands, out of which officials have initially proposed 26, which could be considered for holistic development.