PM promises young bizmen graft-free India

Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said his government will take steps to weed out corruption — a menace that he said had become institutionalised - and promised measures to ease the common man's problems. The PM said this in his address to over 200 start-up entrepreneurs at 'Champions of Change' programme organised by government think tank tank Niti Aayog.

"It is unfortunate that corruption had become institutionalised. Till you make a counter institutional arrangement, you cannot stop it," Modi said.

Speaking about the different initiatives taken by the government at the Centre, the PM said the government has stopped interviews for group III and IV employees, introducing self-attestations of certificates and doing away with interviews for lower posts. He said his government has eliminated middlemen, who promised jobs for money.

Stating that middlemen are out of work now, he said they are shouting the most about unemployment.

The PM also said change will be powered by each and every citizen of India and that only governments and their initiatives will not make a New India. "Every one of us is equally patriotic and wants India to scale new heights of progress. There is no difference in our love for the nation," he said.

Asking his audience to innovate and come up with solutions for different issues, the PM said he would like the event to be an annual feature and the different groups of entrepreneurs formed for suggesting policy initiatives could be attached with relevant ministries on a permanent basis.