NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked civil servants to ensure that the political party in power uses the taxpayers’ money for the development of the country and not for the expansion of the party activities.
“It is the duty of the bureaucracy to assess whether the political party, which has come to power, is using the taxpayers’ money for the benefits of the party or it is being used for the benefits of the country. You must see this,” PM Modi said while advising the bureaucrats that the basis of their decision should always be the national interest.
He was speaking at a programme organised to mark the 16th Civil Services Day in the capital on Friday. The PM said the bureaucracy should look at whether a political party looting the government money to create its own vote bank. “Or is it working to make everyone’s life easier? Is that political party, which has come to power, promoting itself with government money or is it honestly making people aware? Is that political party appointing its own workers in various organisations or it is giving everyone an opportunity to get jobs in a transparent manner? the prime minister asked.
Recalling that Sardar Patel had termed bureaucracy as the ‘steel frame of India’, Prime Minister Modi said bureaucracy can leave a memorable legacy if it worked up to the expectation of people. “People-centric governance solves problems and gives better results. The century of independence will be the golden century of the country when we will give first priority to our duties. Duty is not optional for us but a resolution,” PM Modi asserted.
“You will not be judged by what you have done for yourself, but by what changes have you brought in the lives of the people. Only this will make you able to leave a memorable legacy,” he said. Taking a swipe, albeit indirectly, at policies of the previous government, the PM said that more than four rore fake gas connections and more than four crore fake ration cards were detected by this government in the last nine years.
The Prime Minister said there were one crore fake beneficiaries of women and children schemes, fake scholarships are offered to 30 lakh youth by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and lakhs of fake accounts created under MNREGA were also detected and deleted. The PM said that such a corrupt ecosystem had emerged under the pretext of these fake beneficiaries.
He thanked the bureaucrat fraternity for making a transformation in a system that has saved roughly Rs 3 lakh crore from going into the wrong hands. “This amount is being utilised for the welfare of the poor”, he said, adding that earlier the thinking in public was that government will do everything but now the thinking is that the ‘government will work for everyone’.
Work to make life of citizens easier: Modi The PM said the bureaucracy should look at whether a political party looting the government money to create its own vote bank. “Or is it working to make everyone’s life easier? Is that political party, which has come to power, promoting itself with government money or is it honestly making people aware? Is that political party appointing its own workers in various organisations or it is giving everyone an opportunity to get jobs in a transparent manner? the PM asked the civil servants.
