Sanskriti Kashyap
Good Governance Day is celebrated in India to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In 2014, it was named ‘Good governance Day’ to honour Vajpayee for his contribution towards raising awareness of governance among the citizens.
He was well known for his oratory and writing skills.
Vajpayee became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. He was elected to Rajya Sabha twice and to Lok Sabha nine times.
He was the first Prime Minister since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who had become Prime Minister for two successive mandates.
He served as Prime Minister thrice in India – first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and then for full-term from 1999 to 2004. He worked in various important standing committees of Parliament as a leader of the opposition.
He was born to a very humble school-teacher family on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. He was honoured with Bharat Ratna on 25 December 2014, and he was also awarded India’s second-highest civilian honour – Padma Vibhushan.
Prime Minister Modi declared 25 December to be celebrated as ‘Good Governance Day’ every year in India.
What is the motive behind celebrating Good Governance Day?
It is celebrated to enhance the welfare and betterment of the people.
Good governance day is celebrated to bring citizens closer to its government and make them active participants in the good governance process.
The day’s motive is also to enhance the growth and development of the country through good governance and also to implement good and effective policies.
Some of his well-known quotes
“If India is not secular, then India is not India at all.”
“Our words, actions, and diplomatic efforts should be aimed at trying to achieve pragmatic goals rather than creating rhetorical effect.”
“No guns but only brotherhood can resolve the problems.”
“You can change friends but not neighbors.”