Participative democracy essential: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the spirit of a democracy is incomplete if one thinks the citizen's role stops at voting as participative democracy is essential.

"The spirit of a democracy is incomplete if one thinks the citizen's role stops at voting. Participative democracy is essential. If democracy is limited to voting and choosing a government then the spirit of democracy would not develop. After winning elections, the governments usually start thinking about how to win the next elections or what to do to get more votes next time. Their policies are also shaped accordingly," said the Prime Minister, while addressing the concluding session of the Town Hall meeting organised at Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex here on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of MyGov(dot)in.

Answering questions from citizens from across the nation and abroad asked via video conferencing, Prime Minister Modi said, "'Last mile delivery' is as important as policies. The benefits must reach the intended beneficiaries. If good governance is not stressed on then regular life of a citizen won't change, won't develop. If we don't focus on good governance then lives of normal people will not change."

"Development and good governance should have a balanced relation, even for a small incident anywhere, Prime Minister is targeted. Holding Prime Minister responsible for everything that happens at every level in the nation can be good politically or for TRP. Every responsible person holding a position should be questioned. People should easily get what they want. We want to develop good governance where processes are less and things get done easy for citizens," he added.

Elaborating on the concept of good governance, he said, "Good governance means those processes that are redundant do not exist. Grievance redressal systems are the biggest strengths of a democracy. Every citizen should have their problems addressed and responded to. Technology and good governance will benefit farmers. The most powerful thing in democracy is Grievance Redress System."

Asserting that India is among the fastest growing economies in the world, the Prime Minister said, "I raise one issue but the whole system is addressed. We are taking few initiatives for good governance. The world is in recession. Despite the purchasing capacity of world going down, we have a growth rate of 7.6 percent."

"If there is one sector that can power the economy it's the agriculture sector. Further, Khadi for nation and Khadi for fashion, this must be our guiding principle," said the Prime Minister, who launched 'The PMO App' and met the youngsters who developed the app.

He said the unique spirit of our villages must remain and at the same time they must have facilities associated with cities.