'Rajiv did nothing to check graft'

“During his tenure as Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi said when one rupee is released in Delhi, it becomes 15 paise when it reaches villages. Is he a doctor, that he can just diagnose and get away? Now that task (to eradicate corruption) has come to my shoulders,” he remarked in a special address at the National Quality Summit 2010 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Bangalore on Thursday.

Modi said he has decided to ensure that 100 per cent of the money released in Gandhinagar, Gujarat’s capital, reached the villages. Modi said his government conducted a door-to-door survey to identify beneficiaries of schemes meant for the poorer sections, handicapped, widows and others. “Garib Kalyan Melas” were organised at 350 places and 35 lakh people were provided with schemes worth Rs 4,700 crore. “Not a single paisa was wasted. Quality can enhance delivery service in government too,” Modi said.

Modi also disapproved of the tendency among industrialists who scale up marketing when their companies lose ground, rather than focusing on quality and research.