PM Modi targets Congress, says democracy not will of lone entity but of effective policies

Asserting that the nation was plagued by nepotism and corruption during the previous UPA regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that democracy runs on effective policies, not at the will of a lone entity.

"I'm grateful to Ghulam Nabi Azad for highlighting problems with Jan Dhan in Bhopal. He compiled a list of people who haven't got a Jan Dhan account yet. You used a microscope and picked apart faults in Jan Dhan scheme. Had you used a binocular and critiqued your own initiatives while you were in power, then it'd have been better," Prime Minister Modi said while replying in Parliament on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address at the start of the Budget session.

Prime Minister Modi further said that good governance relies on effective delivery of schemes to people adding that transparency is the cornerstone of good governance.

"There has been lots of talk in the Opposition about Jan Dhan scheme. Now we are in power, it is important to push for a quantum jump in governance," he said.

The Prime Minister further mentioned that his government has emphasised on decentralization of power.

"Earlier these projects were forwarded to Delhi, and we all know what used to happen, they used to get stalled in some way or the other, we established ten regional offices to handle these projects," he said.

"We have given states more rights to handle matters pertaining to environment clearances," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also recited "Safar Mein Dhoop To Hogi" by Nida Fazli to conclude his address in Rajya Sabha.