Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Wednesday emphasised that good governance is a basic right of all citizens which the governments are duty bound to provide.
Rio was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day regional conference on 'good governance initiatives' on the sub-theme "capacity building, technology, best practices by aspirational districts" organised by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India and hosted by Nagaland government here.
"Good governance is not an option of governments its a basic right for all citizens and we are duty bound to provide it," the Nagaland Chief Minister said.
Rio expressed hope that the conference with the participation of delegates from all states of the North-East and as also representatives sharing experiences from other states- Bihar, Chattisgarh and Kerala will give an opportunity to learn from each other and evolve strategies to improve governance.
Maintaining that technology provides a tool to improve service delivery, Rio expressed happiness that the conference has a session on leveraging technology for good governance.
"An identifier like Aadhaar helps us to ensure that benefits are better targeted. Spread of banking and mobile telephony has enabled Direct Cash Transfers and this JAM
Jandhan Aadhaar Mobile trilogy has helped better implementation of schemes whether it is scholarships or MNREGA", he said.
However, he said that while adopting DBT and digital payments, one challenge that states like Nagaland in the North-East face is the limited outreach of banks.
"We still have several blocks that are unranked. Similarly, while Digital India is the mantra all over the country, there are districts and blocks in Nagaland and other states of the North-East that suffer from poor connectivity," he said.
In order to truly benefit from the Mobile and Banking revolution, there is a need to focus on improving connectivity and bank network in this part of the country, he said.
"We need to adopt Aspirational District strategy to more backward areas in this region and I would suggest adoption of Aspirational Blocks to ensure that all poor and backward regions are targeted", he said, adding this would help in pushing development indicators across the State and the region.
Stating that capacity building is another key requirement in the North-East, 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 citizens demand the best of services - be it education, health, infrastructure or social sector, the CM said.
Secretary of DARPG, GoI, K V Eapen in his address said the conference aims to provide a common platform to share experience in the formation and implementation of good governance initiatives.
The main objective, he said, is replication of the implementation of good governance practices in the states.
In this, he said that tremendous focus is being given on development of North-East region through good governance.
During the two day, sessions will be held on technology for good governance, transforming aspirational districts, citizen centric services, capacity building and good governance initiatives.
Valedictory session will be held on Thursday.
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