Over 73 percent Indians trust Narendra Modi govt, third highest worldwide: OECD Report

While the confidence in public institutions and governments has fallen globally, India is seeing a rise in the trust in the government, an international study has suggested. With over 200 indicators of good governance, Government at a Glance report for 2017, which offers a detailed analysis of public service performance data and comparisons, has stated that the trust in government indicator has seen a significant downfall. The study released by released by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adds that confidence in public institutions is low, and the perception that public policies favour select interest groups has increased sharply.  India, however, has defied this trend along with Indonesia and Lithuania. This report reveals that, on an average, only 42 percent citizens have confidence in their respective governments, which is down from 45 percent in 2007.

On average, only 42% of citizens have confidence in their #government (down from 45% in 2007) https://t.co/PAOpyvy04q #trust #democracy pic.twitter.com/WiniRUewUB

— OECD Governance (@OECDgov) July 13, 2017

On the other hand, according to Indian Express report which quoted the study, India sees 73 percent Indians trusting the current government, one of the highest among the OECD nations, indicating that citizens approve of the leadership and believe that the government will react proactively to new demands. It is only below Indonesia and Switzerland in terms of this measure. It is not surprising to see countries like the United States, Greece, Brazil and United Kingdom rank in the lower half of this measure, considering the political turmoil being witnessed by these nations. [caption id=“attachment_3813547” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The trust in government figures for 2016.[/caption] In order to understand why this is an important indicator, the research defines the importance of high ’trust in government’ figures: “Trust in government leads to greater compliance with regulations and the tax system, facilitates social and political consensus, enhances the acceptance of policies that call for short-term sacrifices by citizens, and mobilises citizen engagement to enable open and inclusive governance processes.” Whether it is demonetisation, GST, Swachh Bharat or Make in India; it is clear that Modi did factor in ’trust in government’ while implementing these reforms. Considering how the report specifically warns governments of being wary of “ e‑exclusion,” where a growing share of citizens use digital channels to interact with government, there are still persistent gaps in the level of uptake by education level, living area and age. The Modi administration seems to be covering this base with its Digital India initiatives. Regarding the research, Government at a Glance 2017 provides data on public administrations in 34 OECD countries. Where possible, it also reports data for Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, the Russian Federation, and South Africa. This data is updated twice a year as new data is released. Besides the trust in government indicator, the report’s findings also state that fiscal stabilisation continues, yet debt levels remain high and government investment has decreased. Another positive revelation is that public spending on healthcare and social protection have increased worldwide. However, women are still underrepresented in government leadership positions. Another interesting indicator was how open government initiatives — where principles of transparency and participation were being fostered — are gaining momentum, thus increasing government accountability. While India was not included in this measurement, it would be interesting to see where India would stand in accountability in comparison to rest of the nations across the world. Read the full report here: