Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political philosophy is to ensure a sustainable development platform keeping the common man at the centre against the idea of short-cut politics just to win elections, said Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, in an interview to Liz Mathew. Excerpts: How does the ‘good governance’ model go beyond the IT infrastructure backbone the government has created over the years? There is a difference in the political philosophy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and our party BJP believe in. It’s a philosophy to make sure that our country moves on a sustainable development platform – which requires a lot of sacrifices, a political task on good governance vis-a-vis the shortcut politics of how to win the next election, irrespective of whether it’s good for the society or bad for the society. Multiple dimensions of good governance have been created to build faith and trust of the common citizen in the system. The first dimension is the transparency that digital technology has brought in, and the creation of a proper digital technology framework: 45 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 35 crore digital identity Aadhaar, 4.5 lakh digital seva Common Service Centres. Creating this eco-system to deliver people’s benefits directly into their accounts in a transparent manner – by now Rs 26 lakh crore worth benefits have been directly transferred. Remember then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's remark about the beneficiaries getting just 15 paise of the one rupee spent by the government. Compared to that, the entire one rupee goes to the account without any corruption. Using the digital framework (CoWin), our country has been able to deliver 219 crore vaccinations in a short period of one year and 10 months. This is the model of governance we are talking about. Around Rs 3.5 lakh crore goods have been procured in a very transparent manner and there are stories of small SHGs in Jharkhand and other places managing to get a contract in Delhi. You don't have to worry about your refunds any longer. There is transparency in utilization of natural resources. Because of this, the government could mobilize Rs 4.64 lakh crores through spectrum auction. States like Odisha have Rs 50,000 crore revenue today which was Rs 5,000 crore or so a few years back. Because of that, people have money in their hands. That's the model of governance we are talking about. The PM knew it was difficult, it would take some sacrifices, it takes time but this is the only way to sustainably develop. There is no shortcut to become developed. The government had the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) infrastructure in place even before Covid-19 struck. Why couldn’t it be used when migrants were walking back to their villages? During the pandemic, we did not have a database. Now that a database has been created ‘E-shram’ under the Labour ministry and crores of people have already been registered, I am sure this would come in use in future crises. The PM has always laid emphasis on the entrepreneurial culture in the country, several initiatives have been taken to give a fillip to the start-up ecosystem. But central to this ecosystem are the freedoms of individuals… But today even a Facebook post is weaponised, and arrests made. Freedom of speech is paramount. But even the countries that consider freedom of speech as the top priority – I have been meeting and talking to digital ministers of other countries – are also saying the disruption caused by social media in their society is immense. They want to bring in laws where the accountability of a person who is writing is clean. This accountability – like in the case of newspapers etc – brings in trust. I came across a Youtube channel named as Modi stories or Modi TV and the first item it showed was that a famous actor is dead. it was fake news. There are hundreds of such fake channels. society will be in deep trouble. Imagine, tomorrow in areas like the south where the people are sensitive about actors, if someone commits suicide, who is responsible for it? Someone has to be responsible for what is published. But can a mere social media post by an individual become a national security issue? It does become. Take in the case of Agniveer agitation. Somebody is floating a rumour about a train near Secunderabad.. Immediately a mob gathered together and did not even allow the passengers to come out. Had it not been the effective intervention and strong show of the security forces, it could have been a major problem. During elections, BJP leaders make a pitch for double engine governments. But how does it fit in a federal polity with different political parties ruling several states? I can give you examples. Say Bengal, who reached first when Bengal had a cyclone after a tough contest? Prime Minister. We fought in elections, but ours is a federal structure. That people of a state have chosen somebody does not mean we don't provide the facilities. We have not had a BJP government in Odisha for so many years. Still when a natural calamity strikes, the Centre is there to support. That is the philosophy of cooperative federalism which is a part of the definition of good governance. There is absolutely no discrimination across any scheme of the Central government. So, why this strong pitch about a double engine? Double engine actually gives you the advantage to always become more synchronised. The political philosophy of long-term development, sustainable development is always there.
