Declaring that his government has decided to clear “the jungle of laws”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said antiquated laws would be done away with to impart direction and speed to administration.
“In our country....there are many laws which have been made, which don’t have any relevance today. They are of no use. If government has to work fast, if government has to work on the straight path the jungle of laws that has been created has to be cleaned up. I want to end all these laws,” he said.
Addressing BJP workers at the HAL airport on his visit to Karnataka, Mr. Modi said his government was now engaged in a clean-up act.
“...We have been in government for a very short time. As we move into a new house the first thing we do is cleaning.
First the public did the cleaning; now we are doing it,” he said.
Mr. Modi was apparently referring to the popular mandate his party received unseating the UPA government and things it has to undo now.
Mr. Modi said, “People feel surprised whether the new government has to be doing this (cleaning) work, but you will be surprised that that I’m forced to do it.”
Observing that earlier governments used to take pride in making laws, he said they used to feel happy in saying that “we made laws, but I have decided to end all those laws which are of no use.”
“I have constituted a special committee; ....these are the things which create obstacles in governance and decision making,” he said.
“We have five to 10 laws on one single issue, laws which are over hundred years, over one hundred fifty years, over fifty years, and one interprets it the way he wants and stops work.”
“There should be direction to the work, quickness to it,” the Prime Minister said.
Noting that September 25 is the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadyaya, stalwart of erstwhile Jan Sangh, he said he had been “a source of inspiration for all of us.”
It has been decided to launch a campaign from September 25 to October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, to clean up all the ministries of the Government of India.
