Behaviour of govt should be such that people consider it a friend: PM Narendra Modi

“It is a common saying that when a person gets the chair, everything changes. People also change. I used to hear this. But I had decided beforehand that I will remain the same; the way people made me. I will never become a slave to the restrictions of the chair. I will stay among the people and I will stay for them,” Modi said to an audience largely consisting of past beneficiaries of SWAGAT and government officials.

He maintained that the Union government’s PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) platform was based on Gujarat’s online grievance redressal system SWAGAT.

“In Delhi, for reviewing government works, we had created a system called PRAGATI. In the last nine years, PRAGATI has played a big role in the country’s rapid growth. This concept is based on the idea of SWAGAT. As the Prime Minister, I have reviewed Rs 16 lakh crore worth of projects through PRAGATI. It has helped speed up many projects in the country,” he said.

Narrating his experiences with technology when he became the chief minister of Gujarat, Modi said, “The success of any democracy is dependent on its public grievance redressal system.”

Modi, who introduced SWAGAT when he was the Gujarat CM, added, “I personally benefited a lot from SWAGAT. When I used to interact directly with the people, I used to get clear feedback from the people at the bottom of the pyramid – whether they benefited from the government, if they are adversely being affected by government policies, if they are being troubled by some local official or entitled benefits are reaching the masses. I began getting this feedback easily.”

The PM said that his government in Gujarat used to analyse the information gathered through SWAGAT.

“The strength of SWAGAT increased so much that a common man who was not being heard by officials had the option to approach me through SWAGAT. I used to get direct information about people’s problems and complaints. I used to analyse these complaints. Is there a department or an official against whom frequent complaints are coming, is there sector full of complaints. Are the complaints due to policies or an official. We used to analyse everything. If needed, we used to change laws and policies. If there a problem due to a particular person, then that too was handled. So, the people began to trust SWAGAT,” he added.

Modi remembered former IAS officer A K Sharma, who used to handle the SWAGAT programme. Sharma is currently a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government. “This model of governance of Gujarat has received global recognition. The International Telecom Organisation had described it as an example of e-transparency and e-accountability. The United Nations also praised SWAGAT and it received UN’s public service award. In 2011, when the Congress government (was at the Centre), due to SWAGAT, Gujarat had won a Government of India’s gold award in e-governance,” he said.