Narendra Modi says India has no dearth of resources, only needs good governance for development

New Delhi: India has no dearth of resources required for development but it is wanting in good governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_4118279” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] “In the states where the government machinery is efficient and implements schemes in a time-bound manner, the change is visible,” Modi told a gathering here to commemorate the birth centenary of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Jan Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh. The prime minister said that in states with more poverty, work allocation under the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) was less but it was more in states with good governance and lesser poverty. Modi said that just wishing for development is not enough. Initiatives have to be completed in a time-bound manner, he observed. He said the original objectives and intentions of a scheme should not be diluted and that the fruits of development must reach the intended beneficiaries. “Efforts have to be comprehensive and ‘outcome-driven’ not ‘output-driven’. If this is done, we can achieve by 2022 what has been a dream for the last 70 years,” he said. The prime minister said a democracy cannot be limited to voting once every five years and then leaving things to whosoever comes to power. “Democracy is successful when there is ‘jan bhagidari’ (public participation) in implementing developmental schemes. And for this, continuous dialogue between the government and the people is necessary,” he said. Modi said it was imperative that correct guidelines flow down from above and correct information flows up from below. “If this two-way channel is perfect, there will be right policies, schemes, and budget allocation.” Modi paid floral tributes to Nanaji Deshmukh and Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan and released a commemorative postage stamp on Nanaji Deshmukh. He also launched the DISHA portal, a smart-governance tool developed for MPs and MLAs for monitoring implementation of various programmes and schemes of different ministries in their respective constituencies through a single portal. Currently, data of 41 programmes and schemes of 20 ministries has been integrated on the portal. The prime minister also launched Gram Samvaad — a citizen-centric mobile app meant for facilitating single-window access for citizens to information at the gram panchayat level on various rural development programmes. The app presently covers seven programmes of the rural development ministry. Modi digitally inaugurated 11 Rural Self Employment Training Institutes buildings and a plant phenomics facility at Indian Agricultural Research Institute. The audience was drawn from among representatives of self-help groups, panchayats, water conservation innovators and beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.