Important to speak in one voice on Govt's decisions: Jaitley

He stressed that social media is an empowerment tool

Underlining the impact of social media in governance, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that while there was nothing wrong for officers or ministers to speak out freely on issues, they must speak in one voice once government takes a decision.

Participating in government’s day long programme, ‘MyGov’, a government-citizen interface, Jaitley stressed that social media is an empowerment tool.

"In a transparent governance system like ours, there is nothing wrong with officers and ministers speaking out freely. Social media is a strong asset that allows alternate view-points, comments and suggestions before a decision is taken. However, it is important that once the government takes a decision, they all speak in one voice," Jaitley said at the fourth session of the day titled ‘Disseminate’.

 

He added that social media has done a great service of disseminating information in even tier II, tier III cities and downwards.

On the MyGov platform, Jaitley said that while it was successful, it was still work-in progress as technology was fast-changing.

"One cannot predict today what turn will be the technology take. So, we need to keep moving ahead with that curve," he said.