Trust citizens more: prez to state governments

President Ram Nath Kovind today stressed the need to trust citizens more and cited the example of self-attestation of documents required in government works like issuance of passports.

He was addressing a two-day conference of governors and lt governors of states and union territories here.

"He... stressed trusting citizens more and gave the examples of self-attestation of documents by individuals and the easier mechanism for obtaining a passport," a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan quoted the president as saying.

Kovind urged the replication of these ideas at the level of states, since much of a citizen's interaction with government agencies is at the level of states, it said.
 

The central government has been emphasising promotion of self-attestation of documents that may be required for government works. It has also written to state governments to promote self-attestation in place of the existing norms of getting credentials certified by a gazetted-officer or notarised affidavit.

The conference, that began today, was attended by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.