Modi to clear 'jungle' of outdated laws

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday vowed to abolish the "jungle" of laws that are outdated and holding up the country's socio-economic development.

"I have decided to abolish the jungle of laws as they have become outdated and irrelevant in the present times. I have formed a special committee to single out all those laws that have been delaying decision-making and hampering growth," Modi told a gathering of BJP cadres at the HAL airport.

Stating that previous governments used to take pride in framing new or more laws and causing delays in approving development projects by interpreting the laws in their own way, Modi said it was ridiculous that laws framed 50-60 years ago or even over a century were being applied in the 21st century.

"It is unfortunate that people have to suffer from such outdated laws. We have to abolish or change them to suit the needs of the present and future generations.

"Laws have to be action and result oriented," Modi said in Hindi during his 30-minute speech.

Referring to banks' nationalisation by late prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1969, Modi regretted that even after four decades, the objective of the policy did not benefit the poor, as they have been forced to borrow money from money-lenders and remained in life-long debt.

"Banks should not serve only the rich and industries but even the poorest. That is why our government launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana recently (Aug 28) to enable every citizen irrespective of his or her financial or economic status to open a bank account with even zero balance and empower them with life and health insurance cover and free them from the clutches of money lenders," Modi said.

Thanking state-run and scheduled banks for financial inclusive growth across India, Modi said that about four crore people have opened bank accounts and the scheme has so far collected Rs.1,500 crore in deposits across the country.