E-Paper
Good governance is to ensure 100% welfare delivery, says FM
Highlighting the maximum governance objective that could be achieved by “minimising government where it should not be”, she said such governance “actually becomes ideal” where there should not be “excessive” presence of the government, not a situation where the government is lacking where it is required.
New Delhi Good governance is to devise instruments to ensure 100% delivery of welfare measures directly to the intended beneficiaries without any “pilferage”, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. She said its other trait lies in the principle of minimum government but maximum governance.
“Where there’s got to be the presence of a government, they should be, and just that much [presence] that you need… not too much. And, where government should not be present, there should not be even pretence of their presence,” the minister said at the NTR memorial lecture on ‘Empowerment - Road to Good Governance’ in Visakhapatnam.
Highlighting the maximum governance objective that could be achieved by “minimising government where it should not be”, she said such governance “actually becomes ideal” where there should not be “excessive” presence of the government, not a situation where the government is lacking where it is required. She said “trust” in people is another principle for good governance.
Underscoring the Modi government’s focus on 100% delivery of subsidies and welfare measures to the underprovided without any leakages in the process, she recalled the famous statement made by a former prime minister that out of ₹1 central assistance, the intended beneficiaries were getting just 15 paise . Without naming him, the finance minister was referring to former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s famous remark made in 1985.
Speaking about the Modi government’s “pilfer-proof subsidy delivery mechanism”, she said, “Today, one of the major objectives of good governance has been achieved by the way we have adopted technology in ensuring that benefits reach common citizens.” She was referring to the usage of JAM Trinity, which is based on Jan-Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar identification and mobile connectivity. By using the JAM technology, the government has been able to deliver assistance worth lakhs of crores of rupees to intended beneficiaries at the click of a button.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the scheme launched in August 2014 by PM Narendra Modi, provides basic banking facilities to the underprivileged. It has in excess of 472 million accounts with deposits in excess of ₹1.75 lakh crore. It is one of the three backbones of the government’s delivery mechanism as subsidy amounts can be directly sent to these accounts. HT reported on Thursday.
Elaborating the importance of the trust factor, as embedded in the Modi government’s slogan ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’, she said it helps the government in taking transformative decisions because people believe that the decision is for their welfare. This gives confidence to people that “the government will be with you when you need it… and at the same time ‘sabka vikas’, everybody should grow… [prosper]…,” she said.
The finance minister said the slogan also evolved in the last eight years with “absolutely relevant” additions – ‘sabka saath, saabka vikas, sabka vishwaas’ where “you have to build trust” with the people. Giving an example of the trust factor, she said the Modi government believes in the people, hence mandatory attestations by gazetted officers have been done away with and replaced by self-certification. This also ended the “rent seeking” by corrupt officials as the PM trusts the people, she said. This was a factor behind the government’s drive to decriminalise more than 1,500 laws, she added. “These were major hurdles in the common people’s lives, so they had to go,” she said.
Sitharaman said the latest addition in the governance principle is “sabka prayaas” or people’s participation in achieving common goals of national prosperity and Aatmanirbhar Bharat [Self-reliant India].
