Smriti Irani Quotes

The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public.

Citizens need to know how their countries are being run so that they can hold governments and big business to account.

Part of the problem you have is that you don't have a dialogue between elected officials and their constituents. They've built these barricades, these barriers around themselves and tried to avoid interaction with their constituents.

Democratic elections alone do not remedy the crisis of confidence in government. Moreover, there is no viable justification for a democratic system in which public participation is limited to voting.

Obama has already rejected the bright sunlight of public knowledge, which is democracy's great disinfectant and cure.

A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership.

Dialoging is the first principle of good government.

All politicians will have to change to be worthy of our people.

Elected officials should be held to a higher standard, and we cannot enable misbehavior with a system that secretly settles with public funds.

If there is a problem with democracy, the answer has to be more democracy.

We are a government that does its homework and listens to the public.

We are determined to rebuild the confidence of our people in public institutions and restore the credibility of those elected to serve them.

We should all be able to have faith that our governments are working in our best interests - and if they aren't, then they should be challenged and held to account.

We want councillors and MPs to be more closely involved in housing issues because this will help to strengthen local democracy and accountability.

The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.

After Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, I was heartened to see him issue an Open Government Initiative on his first full day in office.

Advocacy groups and voters are not wrong to push candidates to declare their position clearly on policy issues. That is good citizenship. Hard questions should be asked of every candidate, every politician. And those public servants should be prepared to answer, but in their own words.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

I decided to run for governor because I got mad... I want to make government more directly accountable to the people.

Good ideas are the backbone of good government.

There is a power in public opinion in this country - and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers - which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

In the 21st century, the countries that thrive will be the ones where citizens know their voices will be heard because the institutions are transparent.

One of our most noble political tasks is to open up trust.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.