Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called out to the Indian industry, especially the MSME sector, to make a list of unnecessary compliances so that those could be removed to bring down compliance time and cost further.

“We want to reduce the compliance cost for MSMEs. In business, it is said, time is money. By reducing time for compliance, you reduce compliance cost. If you want to make a list of unnecessary compliances, this is the time. We have already done away with 40,000 compliances,” the PM said speaking at a post-Budget webinar on `unleashing the potential, ease of living using technology’ on Tuesday.

Lack of faith between the government and people reflected a colonial mindset, he said. “But today, by decriminalising minor offences and becoming guarantor for loans of MSME, the government has won the trust of people. We don’t have to stop here. We have to see what other nations have done to strengthen trust between government and people. We can learn and attempt that in our country,” he said.

The webinar was co-organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It was attended by MeitY Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Commerce  & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Senior officials from both Ministries also participated. 

Technology and developed country status

Stressing on the role technology can play in improving services provided by various government departments and in improving ease of living, the PM said that use of technology would provide strength in helping India in its goal of achieving developed country status by 2047.

“We are lucky that India has a natural gift (in use of technology). We have talented youth and skilled manpower. Our villagers also have capability of adopting technology. We have to discuss in details how to make best use of that,” he said.

Artificial Intelligence’s role

On the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the PM said that it was expected to bring about big changes in sectors such as industry, medicine, education, agriculture and others but the country should set special goals for itself.

“We have to discuss what are the ways this technology (AI) can be used to benefit common people. What are the sectors that should be focussed on. Can we identify ten problems of society that can be sorted through AI?” the PM said.

Digital revolution

Highlighting that digital revolution should benefit all segments of society, Modi said that initiatives like Government e-Market (GEM) and e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) had already started delivering the benefits of technology to small businesses and farmers. He proposed that the concept of digi-locker could be expanded to increase its benefits for people.

It was important to not limit one self to internet and digital technology, the PM pointed. For instance, optical fiber network was now reaching villages and possibilities were expanding for new areas like tele-medicine. “We can develop models of how common people can benefit from optical fibre,” he said, adding that private players need to come up with new software.

Mission Karmyogi

Modi said the government was continuing its efforts to improve ways to communicate with the people and areas could be identified to make communication easier. He said the objective behind `Mission Karmyogi’, which was training government employees, was to make them citizen-centric. “We have to update the programme. We plan to build a system through which the training course could be improved with the feedback from people,” he said.

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