The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that the former Prime Minister, ‘Bharat Ratna’, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji brought connectivity revolution and paved way for development and growth. Addressing an event to commemorate the memory of the former Prime Minister on his birth anniversary, here today, Shri Naidu recollected his close association with Shri Atal ji and shared his experiences with him. The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Statistics & Programme Implementation, Shri Vijay Goel and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Shri Naidu said that Shri Atal ji was an astute parliamentarian, an administrator par excellence, a visionary statesman, an erudite scholar, a gifted orator, a most beloved leader, above all, a great human being who believed in the core Indian values of harmony and synthesis.The Vice President said that Shri Atal ji implemented the reform agenda and delivered good governance to the nation amidst great challenges. He further said that good governance, providing a responsive administration to the people, especially to the most vulnerable sections of the society was centre to Vajpayee Ji’s administration.
Atal Ji brought systematic changes in the governance of the country through technology, innovation and research to improve the lives of people, he added.Naidu said that ‘Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana’, ‘Golden Quadrilateral project’, ‘Telecom Revolution’, ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’ or campaign for universal education and a series of measures taken by Shri Atal ji changed the face of India’s development story and accelerated the growth of Indian Infrastructure.Referring to corruption in the context of good governance, the Vice President said that the highest cost of corruption was to be borne by the poor and expressed grief saying that most of the corruption was done in the name of the poor.Shri Naidu said the initiatives such as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) eliminate middlemen and take the financial benefits of government schemes to the most deserving population by way of bank transfer to their own account.Speaking about the importance of Good Governance Day that is being celebrated on the birth anniversary of Atal ji, the Vice President said that taking care of the needs of the poor and down trodden and keeping people at the centre of public administration was the key element of governance. Standing up to the expectations of people and their requirements is the great aspect of governance, he added.