Good governance basic right of all citizens: Nagaland CM

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has said that good governance was a basic right of all citizens and all governments were duty-bound to provide this.

Good governance is a top priority for the People's Democratic Alliance government in the state and several steps have been taken in this regard, Rio said while addressing a two-day regional conference on 'Good Governance Initiatives' here on Tuesday.

Rio hoped that with the participation of delegates from all northeast states and sharing of their experiences will help all to learn from each other, evolve strategies and ensure that key issues facing people are addressed effectively and efficiently.

The Chief Minister said that states like Nagaland faced limited outreach of banks.

"We still have several blocks in the state that are not serviced by banks. Similarly, while Digital India is the mantra all over the country, there are districts and blocks in Nagaland and other northeastern states that suffer from poor connectivity," he said.

Stressing on capacity building, he said: "With changing times, we need to constantly learn and innovate so that we are able to deliver better services. Aspirations and expectations of citizens have risen over the years and today the citizens demand the best of services -- be it education, health, infrastructure or social sector."

Rio stated that governments need to be more of enablers rather than regulators and that systems need to be made transparent to prevent nepotism and corruption.

"Initiatives like government e-marketplace and e-tendering have helped address many of these concerns. We need to make adoption of these reliable and accountable systems as the norm."

--IANS

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