Good governance is the key to growth: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Says growth in Gujarat & Madhya Pradesh possible despite downward trend due to good governance

A credible system of governance is the key to robust and sustainable growth of the economy and citizenry of a country, which is primary to good economics and thereby good politics.

“Good governance is the key link to good politics and good economics without which growth cannot take place, which is so important in today’s scenario,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, MP (Rajya Sabha), BJP told here today while addressing a session on – Can Good Economics be Good Politics – during the Annual General Meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

To prove his point Prasad cited the examples of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh which he said are able to register commendable growth rates despite a downward trend of the gross domestic product (GDP).

“There are states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh that are registering around 10% growth when the national growth rate is below 5%. This is happening only because of good governance. Not only good governance, this is also about performance. People of this country are beginning to recognize performance. Those who are not performing are shown the door,” Prasad added at a time when elections are knocking on the doors.

He also said that good governance can only be driven forward if the leadership has “authority, command and integrity.”

According to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, good economics can sometime be good politics without which the society will not be able to sustain. However, he also added that this sometimes becomes difficult to explain the importance of economics to people in a democracy. A case in point, he said, is hike in prices of oil.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was also one of the panelists, said “good economics and good politics put together make good governance and Haryana is one of the shining examples of this. Economics and politics cannot be divorced from real life and they are the two sides of the same coin.”