Modi calls for increasing executive-accountability

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called upon the political parties in parliament to work towards increasing accountability of the executive.

Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the president's address, Modi said there was no dearth of programmes for welfare of the people and huge sums of money go towards paying salaries to employees.

He said political parties have to go beyond their competition to grab headlines and work towards accountability of the official machinery.

"How to increase accountability of the executive. This is a challenge. We have to work together," Modi said.

Modi said that when he was a child, he had seen that the official machinery worked earnestly and with a sense of fear to answer any question put up in parliament but there appeared a dilution in that spirit now.

Modi said that even if it is an MP from a small party, his queries should get the same treatment from the official machinery as that of the prime minister.

He said political parties indulged in a game of one-upmanship and the government machinery takes advantage of it.

"The word of the opposition should also carry weight. The accountability of the official machinery is getting eroded," he said.