Outlining accountability, responsibility and transparency (ART) as the mantra for good governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told civil servants that “political intervention” was needed for good governance in democracy and it should not be viewed as a hindrance. Inaugurating the Civil Services Day here, Modi said there is a distinction between political interference and intervention. Political “interference will destroy the system and intervention is necessary and inevitable,” he said.
The Prime Minister said bureaucratic temperament and political interference are often talked about as obstacles in moving the democratic process forward. “In a democracy, bureaucracy and political intervention go hand-in-hand. This is the specialty of democracy. If we have to run this country, we do not require political interference. But political intervention is necessary and inevitable otherwise democracy will not work.
“Political intervention is required in democracy as legislators are elected by people. Political interference destroys the system,” Modi said.
Congratulating officers who were honoured for their distinguish service in different fields, the Prime Minister said there was a lot to learn or replicate the good works done by the awardees.
“Our work is not only to run departments. We have to be innovative, modernise within the department as well,” he said adding,
“We need to give priority to perfection and capacity
building”
The Prime Minister said there is a need to remove words like obstacle and difficulty from within the bureaucratic system. “One department is working but it is stopped somewhere. You will ask what has happenedIJ It will say that is the bureaucratic way of functioning. Similarly if some work is stuck omewhere we say it is political interference,” he said.
Emphasising on accountability and responsibility, Modi told the bureaucrats that every problem has a solution which has to be found out. “Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency; this ART is essential for good governance,” he said.
Advocating reforms in bureaucracy, Modi said there is a need to give impetus to reforms and technology as the day is not far when the world will look at m-governance or mobile governance.