Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, in New Delhi on August 15, 2016.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chanted the mantra of Reform-Transform-Perform while addressing the Nation on the occasion of 70th Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi today. PM also highlighted how the Government is moving towards ‘Surajya’ (Good Governance). Surajya means a qualitative and positive change in the lives of the citizens of India.
“In order to attain Good Governance, everyone has to fulfill its responsibilities, be it a Panchayat or Parliament, be it a Gram Pradhan or a Prime Minister, to strengthen every democratic institution. Only then, India will not take too much time in realizing the dream of Good Governance. If India have millions of problems, we have 125 crore brains also which are capable of solving the problems,” the Prime Minister firmly said.
The Prime Minister elaborated on eGovernance initiatives undertaken by his Government in railways, roadways, tax reforms, ease of getting passports and Aadhaar card among others to better the lives of countrymen.
PM Modi said, “Earlier, through technology, only 2000 tickets were issued in one minute. There was a time – people waited for the website to open. Today, I can say with satisfaction that in one minute, 15,000 rail tickets can be issued.”
For good governance, transparency is important. Due to transparency in governance, the Government has been able to issue 1.75 crore passports to the citizens during 2015-16.
“Our society is now gradually becoming connected with the world. Earlier, only 40-50 lakhs people used to apply for passport in a year. Nowadays, two crore people apply for it. Earlier 4 to 6 months were wasted only in inquiries if someone had no recommendation. But now the situation has changed. Now citizens can get a passport in 1 to 2 weeks, without any recommendation/canvassing. No delay, no need of recommendation,” he added.
The Government is trying to change the situation where people are scared of income tax authorities, particularly among middle class families.
“There was a time when an honest taxpayer would pay his income-tax, even pay extra two rupees so that he does not face any problem. But, once the tax was deposited, he would face difficulties in getting refund. He even had to go to the extent of canvassing and wait endlessly for the refund. Now, we have introduced a system of online refund. Now refund is done within a time frame of 1 to 3 weeks. This became possible only due to efforts in making government accountable,” said the Prime Minister.
Efficiency is the hallmark of Good governance. Earlier if anyone wanted to start a company or business, they had to even struggle for its registration for a minimum of at least 6 months. But this situation has now changed.
PM said, “Due to efficiency in governance now, the same employees under the same rule complete the process of company registration within 24 hours. In last July itself, 900 of such registrations materialised.”
The Government is laying emphasis on power in country, and in particular on the Renewable Energy. “There was a time – after many years of Independence, work on Wind Energy started. In the last one year, we have increased it nearly by 40 percent. This is the meaning of speed. Solar Energy… now the entire world is paying attention to it. We have increased it by 116 percent. This is not an incremental change, it is a very big high –jump. We want to increase things as per its quantum,” added PM.
If there is production of energy in our country, we need transmission lines and a proper system of transmission lines. “Two years before the formation of our government, 30-35 thousand kms of transmission lines were being laid every year. We have made it up to 50,000 Kilometers. This is a task of speeding up,” he further said.
Today, the Government is stressing on direct benefit by linking the Aadhar Card with the government schemes, thereby stopping the leakages. In the earlier regime, nearly 4 crore people could be added to government schemes with Aadhar Card. “Today, in comparison to the number of 4 crore, we have completed the task of linking 70 crore citizens with the Aadhar and Government schemes. Whatever is left, is also being completed,” the Prime Minister said with great satisfaction.
The Prime Minister said that PSUs were always seen as firms that will incur losses and close down. Our Government has changed this mindset. “We have brought out several PSUs from dire straits. Air India was infamous for incurring losses. My government has succeeded in bringing Air India to a situation of clocking operational profit. Around the world telecom companies make profit, however BSNL was in losses. Under this government it has reported an operational profit. Moreover, no one thought that Shipping Corporation of India would be able to make profit, but it is,” he added.