A B Sharma / New Delhi
Breaking his long silence over growing Cow vigilantism in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today came down heavily on ‘so called’ cow protection brigades saying that such people do so only to cover their ‘anti social’ activities. Calling for action against criminals donning garb of cow vigilantes, he urged States to prepare dossier of their activities. He said, most of them will be found to be involved in illegal activities.
Speaking at the ‘Townhall’ event in New Delhi to mark two year completion of MyGov portal, Mr Modi suggested that those who want to serve cows should work towards stopping cows from consuming plastics. He said most of the cows die due to consumption of plastics and not by slaughtering.
The Prime Minister said that participatory democracy was a must for a country like India. He said, if democracy is limited to voting and choosing a government then the spirit of democracy would not develop and hence participatory democracy is essential. He said, this is being made possible by technology. He gave the example of Swachh Bharat as an excellent example of public participation.
Mr Modi said responsibility with accountability is hallmark of Good Governance. He said there should be a balanced coordination between development and good governance for the welfare of people. He emphasised that Last mile delivery is as important as policies and the benefits must reach the intended beneficiaries. He said lack of good governance results in loss of crores of money.
Mr Modi said, grievance redressal systems are the biggest strengths of the democracy. He said, the problem of citizen should be addressed and responded, and his government is taking initiatives in this direction.
On health issues, Mr Modi underlined the need for preventive and affordable healthcare. He said, the government has announced an insurance scheme in the budget so that the poor people can get the benefit of health facilities. Replying to a citizen’s question, the Prime Minister said, despite economic slowdown, India is growing at a rate of 7.6 per cent.
He said, if India achieves 8 per cent growth rate for 30 years then best of the world will be in India. He also said, the government is providing adequate amount of water to the farmers through Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. On country’s foreign policy, Mr Modi said, government’s foreign policy is only about India first.
Earlier, the Prime Minister distributed awards to winners of MyGov contests – Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, Duties of a Citizen, Governance Quiz and India Africa Quiz. He also launched the PMO Mobile App developed by six students, and MyGovIndia’s merchandise website. He also met some people who had shared their views during Mann Ki Baat programme.
Speaking at the event earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said social media is also an accountability tool. He said public opinion created through social media has played a huge role in the passage of key GST Bill in Pariament.
Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said digital governance provides an open and transparent society.