On Tuesday, Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu said that the freebies culture has led to the declining financial health of several states.
Naidu warned against the populist measures to gather votes by numerous political parties while addressing the Indian Information Service (IIS) officers of the 2018 and 2019 batches who came to call on him at his official residence.
He further added that government should help the poor and those who are needy but at the same time should focus on health, education, and infrastructure development. The Vice President also emphasized the role of communication in overcoming the difference between the government and citizens.
Furthermore, he said that in a democratic country, People need to be strengthened through timely information about the government policies and initiatives that too in their mother tongues. Also, governments need to be informed of people’s expectations and hopes on time.
He highlighted the need for constant communication between the government and citizens for people-centric and responsive governance. Moreover, he said that policy making and implementation of the policy should be a two-way process with the participation of people at every stage Illustrating India as the world’s largest democratic country, he said that the purpose of any reform process is to make people’s life happy and prosperous.
Further, he said that the focus of all government policies should be on bringing joy to people’s lives and at the same time, underscored the need to bear with temporary pain for long-term gain.
He appreciated that the ICT revolution and the spread of the internet have fundamentally changed the way we consume news and make it easy to access news from anywhere. At the same time, he cautioned that ease of information comes with the associated risks.
With the revolution of ICT, Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news have risen as new challenges which need to be quickly tackled by the government communicators.
He also cautioned against the misuse of social media by specific anti-social elements and advise restraining such tendencies at the earliest.
The Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu also expressed concerns about the violation of journalistic norms and ethos due to the trend of instant journalism accelerated because of the internet.
He emphasized the importance of objectivity and neutrality in media reports and said the news should not be mixed with views. He mentioned media as the fourth pillar of democracy and therefore it should be neutral, objective, and fair for the survival of India’s democracy ethos.
He also urged the young officers to bring forward the development stories from all over the nations
Naidu advised the IIS officers to develop expertise in information and psychological warfare as it is an important dimension in modern-day wars.
While addressing the officers at last he said that the reason for his rise from an ordinary farmer’s son to the second-highest constitutional post in the country is constant hard work, single-minded devotion, and continuous travel and interaction with the people from every part of the country. He has learned a lot by meeting and talking to people.
