Swagat helped improve living, expand governance reach: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday participated in a programme celebrating 20 years of the Swagat (State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology) initiative of the Gujarat government via video conferencing.

While Modi interacted with the beneficiaries of the project, he recollected his days when the initiative was launched in 2003, when he was the chief minister.

He pointed out that when the initiative was launched in 2003, he was not very old as chief minister. Modi said the idea behind Swagat was to welcome the views of the common citizens in democratic institutions, be it in legislation or solutions. “Swagat stands by the idea of Ease of Living and Reach of Governance,” Modi said.


“In Swagat, we prepared a practical system. The first systems of public hearings under Swagat were created at the block and tehsil levels. The district magistrate was made responsible at the district level,” he pointed out adding that at the state level, he took the responsibility on his own shoulders. Modi noted that even though the Swagat programme was held only once a week, the work related to it would be done all through the month as there were hundreds of grievances.

“Today, a system like Swagat has become the inspiration for many solutions to governance. At the centre, we have also made a system called Pragati to review the working of the government,” Modi added.