Niti CEO: Too much of democracy makes reforms difficult

New Delhi, December 8

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Tuesday said it was difficult to carry out tough reforms in India as there was “too much of democracy”.

Kant also tweeted this observation, made during a virtual event organised by Swarajya magazine, but deleted it after a backlash on social media.

Speaking on protests by farmers against the Centre’s three new farm laws, he said, “It is very important to understand this that the MSPs will be there, mandis will remain… farmers must have a choice to sell their products as they benefit out of this.”

Kant said this was the first government that had carried out hard reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour and agriculture, but felt states must push the next wave of reforms.

“Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much of democracy.…You needed political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done,” he said. — TNS