Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that he is determined to weed out corruption that had become institutionalised and claimed that the middlemen who have turned jobless by his Government are the ones shouting the most about unemployment.
The Prime Minister was interacting with Young Entrepreneurs at the “Champions for Change” initiative organised by NITI Aayog at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra. Six groups of young entrepreneurs made presentations before the Prime Minister on themes such as — Soft Power: Incredible India 2.0; Education and Skill Development; Health and Nutrition; Energising a sustainable tomorrow; and Digital India; New India by 2022.
Pointing out that his Government had ended the systems of interviews for group III and IV recruitment, he said this ended the role of middlemen, who used to promise jobs for money.
“As the middlemen are out of work now, they are the ones who are shouting the most about unemployment,” he said.
The Prime Minister , who met the entrepreneurs twice in as many days, said Governments and their initiatives alone would not make a New India. “Change will be powered by each and every citizen of India,” he stressed.
“It is unfortunate that corruption had become institutionalised. Till you make a counter institutional arrangement, you cannot stop it,” the PM said.
Prodding young entrepreneurs to innovate and suggest solutions to deal with different issues, . Modi said he would like the Champions of Change event to be an annual feature.
He said the different groups of entrepreneurs, which were set up to suggest policy initiatives, could be attached with the relevant Ministries on a permanent basis.
The PM said his Government had taken numerous measures, like introducing self attestation of certificates and doing away with interviews for lower posts, to ease the life of the common man.
Referring to the Padma awards,.Modi said in past the prestigious awards were given on Ministers’ recommendation, but the Government has now made it open to anyone for nomination.
“Remember how Padma awards were given earlierIJ We brought in a ‘small’ change - people can recommend names for awards, unlike the past,” he said.
Stressing that the Government wanted to work together with all citizens towards a new India, Modi said, “Every one of us is equally patriotic and wants India to scale new heights of progress. There is no difference in our love for the nation.”