Anti-graft initiatives to be highlight of NDA’s third anniversary
GOVERNANCE Government to also showcase how it plugged leakages in social, economic sectors
NEW DELHI: Riding on the popularity of demonetisation drive that paid electoral dividend in the just concluded assembly elections, the Narendra Modi government has decided to make anti-corruption initiatives “climaxing with note withdrawal” one of the key themes of its third anniversary celebrations on May 25.
The government will also showcase how it has efficiently used resources by plugging leakages in social sector schemes, various infrastructure initiatives and economic improvement to mark the occasion, sources said.
For its first and second anniversaries, the NDA government had mainly harped on its social agenda, focusing on policies that made a difference to the people “belonging to different sections of society, including the deprived and the poor, farmers, women, children, youth and the common man.”
Power minister Piyush Goyal has been made in-charge of coordinating with different central ministries for the celebrations.
In a recent communiqué to all the central ministries, Goyal’s office has sought information on what kind of “anti-corruption architecture” each one of them had put in place since May 2014, climaxing with note withdrawal and outcomes of various governance reforms.
Each of the ministries has been asked to segregate the information state wise and also as per four target groups – youth, women, poor and farmers.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had made corruption one of the key electoral planks during the recent elections in five states.
“Despite opposition backlash following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise high-vale currency last November, the government did not budge. It built a strong narrative on how the initiative will help fight corruption and black money.
The election results in UP and Uttarakhand showed that people supported the move,” said a senior government official who did not want to be quoted.
The government had organised a gala five-hour show at India Gate in the national capital last year, which was attended by a host of celebrities including Bollywood stars, sports personalities to mark its second anniversary. Besides, a 21-day long festival “Vikas Parv” was organised across the country.