Swachh Bharat, Skill India 'transformative' schemes: Pranab Mukherjee Edit

Swachh Bharat, Skill India 'transformative' schemes: Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday hailed the Narendra Modi government's initiatives like Digital India,Swachh Bharat and Skill India as "transformative in nature".

"President of India President Mukherjee believes these programmes are transformative in nature and their successful implementation will alter the landscape of the country," said a reply on Facebook live chat from the President's page, where a question and answer session was organised on the eve of his four years in office.

The replies were made by Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President.

Mukherjee urged Indians to dedicate themselves to the service of the nation.

"Citizens of India should dedicate themselves to the cause of the nation and society through constructive contribution to these programmes in every possible manner," he said in reply to one question.

The President also stressed the importance of teachers, saying: "Teachers are like the soft and skillful hands of a potter. They mould the destiny of thousands of students, in turn shaping the future of a nation."

In another reply, it was said that he "loves teaching and remembers his days as a teacher fondly".

Mukherjee was a teacher in Suri Vidyasagar College of West Bengal before joining politics.

However, the live chat evoked a lukewarm response from some net-savvy citizens who said very casual and "easy" kinds of questions were asked.(more)

Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways

Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways

The National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kicked off a two-part survey where the people will rate its policies and initiatives as it completes two years in office. Thousands have already joined in to answer the 30 questions covering anything from foreign policy to signature schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and Make In India, hosted on the citizen engagement platform mygov,in.

While Make in India, ease of doing business and controlling corruption figure somewhere in the middle of the ratings, other schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and unearthing black money have scored the least.

Initial data captured on the portal will make Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu happy. More than 74 per cent of the people who have participated in the survey so far have given 5 stars to the government effort in modernising Indian Railways, taking it to the top position out of a total of 15 schemes. Only 1.04 per cent of the people have given it 1 star. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is next with 65.8 per cent people giving 5 stars to government efforts in providing highway connectivity. It is the only sector where nobody has given it the lowest grade of 1.

The NDA's foreign policy has scored high as well with 63.21 per cent giving the initiative 5 stars. It got 1 star from 3.63 per cent of the respondents. The PM himself has mostly been at the forefront of the foreign policy initiatives, though Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is also seen having contributed to the overall effort.Click here to read the full article.

Pak visit finds no mention on Modi's Mann ki Baat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 15th edition of the radio programme Mann Ki Baat, aired on Sunday, remained in line with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s campaigns such as Swachh Bharat and Start-Up India, Stand Up India, a project that will be launched on January 16. Although a large number of questions sent to mygov.in, a discussion forum floated by the government, revolved around the PM’s visit to Pakistan, Modi did not bring it up.

Among the few ideas that the PM picked up from inputs received from the masses was one on keeping places of tourist interest clean through the Swachh Bharat project. “As you know, I use technology a lot. And I do keep an eye on mygov.in…. I agree Swachh Bharat should be a focus area, especially in tourist destinations.” To continue the initiative, Modi wants people of this country to clean up statues of national leaders across the country on January 26.

While pointing out the action plan for Start-Up India, Stand Up India will be unveiled on January 16, Modi said Indian Institues of Technology and other universities will be connected live for the event. Modi wants India to be the start-up capital of the world.

Asking people to connect with him through the Narendra Modi app and viamygov.in, the PM sought citizens’ views on anything from Swachh Bharat to inspirational examples of charity and bravery; ideas for the national youth festival at Raipur on Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary to thoughts on duty and responsibility. “Why should we not discuss duties and responsibilities in schools and colleges and other places on Republic Day?”