Modi govt to aim at smart governance

A statement issued by prime-minister-designate Narendra Modi's office said for the first time he has adopted the guiding principle of “minimum government and maximum governance”, and also rationalisation with a commitment to bring change in the work culture and style of governance.

“It is a good beginning in transforming an entity of assembled ministries to organic ministries. It will bring more coordination between different departments, and be more effective and bring a speed in process,” added the statement.

The statement said the focus is on convergence in the activities of various ministries, where one Cabinet minister will head a cluster of ministries working in complimentary sectors.

“Modi is eventually aiming at smart governance, where the top layers of the government will be downsized and there would be expansion at the grass-root level,” it added.

Modi, said the statement, is aware of the high expectations of the people. “For four whole days he was busy with the formation of the ministry and discussing various alternatives to effective governance, convergence and coordination between various ministries.”

The statement said earlier, when there was political instability and multi-party governments, ministry formation was almost  done in a bifurcated manner. “Modi has tried in a rational manner to club like-minded departments in ministry formation in such way as to convert the entity of assembled ministries into an organic entity.”

The statement added that Modi's plan was to form “a ministry as an instrument to deal with challenges and expectation of the people. The integrated and interconnected nature of governance is being focused on in this new dent.”

Modi emphasised that “the ministry can deliver, govern and a bring change in the style of functioning. In ministry formation, the process of development will be more inclusive than it has been.”