With simpler processes, govt promotes ease of living in India

Even as the ease of doing business in India and spreading the red carpet for investors are on top of its agenda, the Narendra Modi government is also learnt to be brainstorming on ways to simplify the day-to-day transactions that an ordinary Indian goes through. The focus is on the ease of living and making rather simple the tasks that currently look uphill.

In what appeared an indication of things to come, the prime minister on Saturday inaugurated MyGov, a portal to directly engage with the citizens. Clean India, job creation, girl child education, skilled India and clean Ganga are among the many heads under which ideas have been sought to achieve good governance.

E-tendering, online complaint redress, self-attestation of documents, doing away with the need for first information reports (FIRs) to get a driving licence or any other identification card re-issued in cases of theft of loss, easier processes to buy mobile phone SIMs, minimising the role of notaries in official paper work, making school admission simpler with the option of shifts even in private schools and checking bribery and nepotism through vigilance and stringent punishments are among measures the Modi government is working on, according to a source close to the development. Along with all that is the promise of better roads and infrastructure, at a time when the dearth of both is a stumbling block for the economy, industry as well as people across the country.

While the current government, which completed two months on Saturday, has been holding out hope of good governance, there's no clarity yet on how it will all be delivered and within what timeframe. But people close to decision-making have said the overall thrust is on simplification of rules and regulations, with the desire to see India among the top countries in quality of life.

As for social indicators, the latest Human Development Index brought out by the United Nations (UN) shows India at the 135th position among 187 countries. This is despite India having a higher gross national income than many.

The Centre is trying to replicate the Gujarat model of governance is some areas, while following examples of international cities in others, a source pointed out. "When you buy a house or take one on rent in Singapore or New York, you don't have to bother about electricity and water connections separately. There's no reason why we can't have a similar model in India," he said. Another example was that of a phone SIM card, which was difficult to buy because of levels of security checks and identification proofs, he added. In the UPA regime, the process to buy SIM cards was made stringent to prevent misuse by unscrupulous elements, including terrorists.

Job creation and due weight to merit in hiring and equal opportunity in employment are among the other important areas that the Modi government is deliberating on, with the goal to address the concerns of the youth, who overwhelmingly backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The present government is alive to issues of the youth and is trying to assess their expectations, according to a bureaucrat. The fact that the young of the country chose Modi over Rahul Gandhi - the latter was identified more as a face for the youth - "poses a huge responsibility on the current government", he said.

In fact, BJP's election manifesto and the Modi government's first Union Budget touched upon the idea of ease of living and job creation through measures on smart cities, start-up funds, skill development and houses for all.