Town Hall event: PM Modi hits out at self-styled gaurakshaks, asks states to take action

Modi also stressed on the need for participatory democracy and preventive healthcare

Speaking at the Town Hall event on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised self-styled gaurakshaks (cow protectors) and said that many of them were using the cause of protecting cows to hide their illegal activities.

He also stressed on the need for participatory democracy in India. 

Responding to questions from common citizens, the prime minister outlined various ways in which sectors like health, agriculture and textiles could progress in the future. 

The event marks two years of the MyGov.in platform, the government's citizen engagement initiative. 

Here, are the top 10 things the Prime Minister said:

1) There are people who do business in the name of cow protection. Many people claim to be gaurakshaks just to hide their illegal trade. Such people make me angry and I urge state government's to make a dossier on them.

2) In the past, citizens of India have limited their role in democracy to voting every five years. After they vote one party in, they treat it like a contractor responsible for fixing all their problems. If the elected party fails to do so after five years, then the people look for another contractor. Under such a scenario, the spirit of a democracy is incomplete. Participatory democracy is essential in a large country like India.

 

3) As important as schemes and decisions are, it is equally important to ensure last mile delivery to ensure the development of the country. If we do not focus on good governance, then there will be no change in the life of the common people.

4) Good governance means that those processes which are redundant cease to exist. 

5) Grievance redressal systems are the biggest strengths of a democracy. 

6) Our economic development should progress at a constant pace instead of fluctuating.

7) We need to stress on preventive healthcare so that we do need doctors in the first place. Swachchta Abhiyan is also a fight against diseases and aims to help the poor. We must focus not just on health insurance, but also health assurance. 

8) If there is one sector that can power the economy it's the agriculture sector. Most of our farmers are still engaged in traditional agricultural practises, and often lack knowledge. In these changed times, we must introduce advanced agricultural technologies and practises in the country. We have also started a soil-health card programme. 

9) The unique spirit of our villages must remain and at the same time they must have facilities associated with cities. We have also started a "Rurban" mission, in which we have identified 300 places. These are clusters of villages which can potentially become centres of growth for the adjoining areas. Under the mission, we will develop these areas in such a manner that these places will have all the infrastructure that a city has.

10) Khadi for nation and Khadi for fashion, this must be our guiding principle.