PM: Viksit Bharat will happen if civil servants support citizens' aspirations

Legacy issues, policies of previous regimes led to corrupt ecosystem, says Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said if India is to realise the goal of Viksit Bharat (developed India), its government "system" must support aspirations of every citizen and replace decades of its negativity by positivity to help people realise their dreams.

The Prime Minister was addressing civil servants on the occasion of the 16th Civil Services Day. He conferred Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration on the occasion.

He said government schemes can look nice on paper but if there is no last-mile delivery of their benefits, the targeted objectives will not be realised. It is well-known that there were four crore fake gas connections and four crore fake ration cards under care of the "system" that existed some years back, he said.

Drawing attention how the system had accumulated negativity earlier, the Prime Minister said it allowed one crore "imaginary" women and children to draw benefits from schemes of the Women and Child Development Ministry, while the Ministry of Minority Affairs was giving scholarships to 30 lakh "non-existing" youths.

A massive eco-system was engaged in corruption with the help of crores of fake identities, which existed just on paper and were never born, he said. Mr Modi said the system has been reformed now with the help of the civil servants, who worked hard to transform it completely.