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- Vaishnaw said that efforts by the Modi government, since it was voted in, in 2014, were to shift to long-term moves that bring in good governance and transparency versus “shortcuts” of offering “freebies” that have no long-term impact of easing the everyday life of citizens.
- “All efforts, be it opening of 45 crore Jan Dhan accounts to increase financial inclusion, seeding of 135 crore of Aadhaar identification leading to the disbursal of ₹26 trillion to beneficiaries under various programmes, and even the 219 crore COVID-19 vaccinations done in a year and 10 months shows that the Modi government has a long-term view on reaching benefits to the citizens in a transparent manner, and as part of its governance agenda,” the Minister said.
‘Qualitative difference’
- He added that the debate on “shortcuts” versus good governance was needed for the future and drew a sharp line between the actions taken by the Modi government and others in terms of welfare.
- “There is a huge qualitative difference between resolving to provide five lakh jobs in the space of a tenure and announcing a ₹1,500 allowance for the unemployed, one clearly empowers, and the other fosters a dependency,” he said.
- He also said that the Centre’s conception of welfare programmes by the Modi government demonstrated this line between good governance and shortcuts, and specifically cited the programme to build toilets in rural areas, which he said was a “huge tool of empowerment for rural women” who ran the gauntlet on security earlier with no toilets at home and open defecation.
- He said all of this was also demonstrable in the reforms in taxation, like faceless assessment, and in the transparent auction of national resources like spectrum, that raised ₹4.64 lakh crore (2G to 5G) over the years.
- “Benami properties worth ₹4,300 crore have been seized and 1.75 lakh registrations of shell companies cancelled,” he added stating that this was all a part of the larger architecture of good governance.
- Vaishnaw’s statements came in the background of repeated attempts by Mr. Modi to flag the issue of freebies and even the Supreme Court stepping into the issue via a case being heard there.
- On Sunday evening too, while inaugurating projects worth ₹75,000 crore in Nagpur and Goa, the Prime Minister had said that people should “expose” political parties trying to damage the economy for “their selfish purposes.”
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB
