Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for an outcome-based approach for rural development saying, “the country has sufficient resources to deliver benefits to the last man in the queue and the desired results can be achieved through good governance.”
“It (rural development) should be outcome based not output based…There should be no dilution or diversion from the spirit it was conceived. And we have to adhere to a timeline for completion,” PM Modi said while addressing a gathering on the occasion of birth centenary celebrations of RSS-Jan Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh.
Talking about the democracy, Modi said, “Democracy is successful when there is ‘jan bhagidari’ (public participation) in implementing development schemes. And for this, continuous dialogue between the government and the people is necessary. A democracy cannot be limited to voting once every five years and then leaving the destiny to whoever comes to power.”
He said it was very important that accurate guidelines should flow down from above and right information should flow up from below. “If this two-way channel is perfect, there will be right policies, schemes and budget allocation.” If rural products like earthen lamps were used in towns like a “fashion statement”, it would help the village poor flourish.
“If the villages have 24 hour power and water supply and were connected with optical cable for Internet, then teachers, doctors and bureaucrats would not hesitate staying there,” Modi said. “Their prolonged stay will help the rural areas gain from their presence,” he added.
“A child in a village should get opportunities like a city student to experiment in a laboratory and use latest IT means,” he added.
