Change will be powered by each and every citizen of India, says the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government is taking steps to uproot corruption that had become institutionalised, and promised more measures to ease the common man’s problems.

Addressing over 200 start-up entrepreneurs at ‘Champions of Change’ programme in New Delhi, he said the government had ended the systems of interviews for group III and IV employees in the government, ending the role of middlemen, who used to promise jobs for money.

“It is unfortunate that corruption had become institutionalised. Till you make a counter institutional arrangement, you cannot stop it,” Mr. Modi said at the event organised by Niti Aayog.

As the middlemen were out of work now, they were the ones who were shouting the most about unemployment.

Mr. Modi, who met the entrepreneurs twice in as many days, said that governments and their initiatives alone would not make a new India. “Change will be powered by each and every citizen of India,” he stressed.

Prodding young entrepreneurs to innovate and suggest solutions to deal with different issues, Mr. 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 Prime Minister 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, Mr. Modi said that 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 earlier? 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, Mr. 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”.