Terming corruption and black money the twin problems spreading like cancer in the country, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said, in reference to demonetisation, that a surgery was needed and was being carried out.
Speaking at a press conference, where he released the Union government 2017 calender on the theme “ Mera Desh Badal Raha Hai, Aage Badh Raha Hai ”, Mr. Naidu said “the cancer of corruption and black money needed chemotherapy”. Some people, he added, were saying that chemotherapy leads to hair fall, but if “hair doesn’t fall, you will fall”.
“There are problems in implementation and they are being addressed to from time to time. Whatever is coming to our notice is being rectified also,” Mr. Naidu said.
He added that demonetisation is most “bold and radical” step taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that Mr. Modi never said that everything will be over by December 30. “Not everything will be over, but corruption and black money will be reduced,” he said.
Good governance day
The Minister said that demonetisation was not a sudden move, as it was one of the main issues before the 2014 general elections. He added that Mr. Modi received the mandate in the elections and was now implementing the step.
Mr. Naidu also announced that December 25, the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be celebrated as “Good Governance Day” and a 100-day nationwide campaign will kick-off from the day, during which Ministers and MPs will go among the people to explain to them the initiatives taken by the Modi government.
Stating that the country needed a “digital transformation”, he said the government will go among the people, from cities to villages, carrying out “digital conversion”.
He said meetings have been held with the Surface Transport Minister and that it might become mandatory for buyers to first receive certification of availability of parking space before registering a new vehicle.
This may become mandatory keeping in mind the growing vehicular population in cities and the resulting congestion.
Press in India report
While releasing the press in India report 2015-16, Mr. Naidu said phenomenal growth of print media sector has mandated changes in print media policy and guidelines in the past years. The need to update policies keeping in mind the changing dynamics in the print media sector, has resulted in evolving a robust mechanism for the Registrar Of Newspapers For India (RNI) to maintain an updated list of publications in the country, he said.
The Minister further said that the print industry had registered a growth of 5.13 per cent over last year and 5,423 new publications had been registered during 2015-16.
