Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi made an intervention on the subject “Reform Experience and Thrust Forward” during the Retreat at G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia. He was invited to speak on the subject and share his vision of reform, based on his own experiences, by Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia.
In his intervention, Prime Minister Modi stressed that reforms cannot be done by stealth, but have to be people-driven and people-centric. He said reforms should take into account the issues being faced by people. He emphasized that reforms cannot be superficial, but should take into account the root causes of the issues involved. Only then can reforms be durable and long-lasting, he added. In this context, Prime Minister illustrated by talking of a link between water availability and power. He said farmers often need cheap power to extract groundwater, because water is not otherwise available. However, if water is made available to them, then farmers may no longer require subsidized power. Hence the reform process could move forward taking into account root causes. PM Modi said there is bound to be resistance to reform, and therefore, it is essential to insulate the reform process from politics. He stressed that reform should be an institutionalized process. He further said reforms should lead to simplification of processes, and should also involve improvements in governance processes.
