Narendra Modi pitches for more governance and less govt

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday came out strongly in support of less government and more governance while addressing the first Think India Dialogue of Network18. Speaking about the benefits of government of coming out of ornamental activities and concentrating on providing basic services, Modi said that such steps would not only reduce red tape but also win back people's faith which has been completely eroded over the last few years.

Lauding Network 18's initiative to introduce a platform for dialogue between opposing stands, Modi said that fruitful results can be reached through dialogue and "such measures yield positive results".

Pointing out that even though the government was omnipresent in India, Modi said that governance was lacking which resulted in people losing faith in the institution. God is omnipresent and people have faith in god. Even government is present every where but there is no faith. People have more faith in private security agencies for their safety but not in the government machinery," he the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.

Elaborating on his views about more governance and less government, he said, "One thinks of size of government when we talk of minimum government. I do not share this view. I don't mean job cuts when I talk about minimum government."

"Government is about outlay and governance is about outcome. Governments in India only talk about outlay and not outcome," he said.

He went on to give his own mantra for better governance by saying that till now the talk has been about public-private partnership, but now the time had come to involve people also in it.

"The P4 model should be adopted. People-public-private partnership model is the need of the hour," he said.