Need to turn development into mass movement: Modi

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that he wanted to create an environment where development becomes a mass movement just as what Mahatma Gandhi transformed the freedom struggle into.

"Gandhiji made freedom struggle a mass movement. Every government has tried to take India forward. But after Independence, we have failed to turn development into a mass movement," Modi said at the NITI Aayog's "Champions of Change" programme.

He said that he wanted to create an environment where every citizen felt that this country belonged to him and that he had to work for the country and add to its growth.

"In the same spirit as what Mahatma Gandhi did for the freedom struggle, we need to make India's development a mass movement.

"When we work together, we can solve several problems the country faces," Modi said in his address to around 200 young CEOs of various sectors who shared their ideas with him on various subjects including job creation, income enhancement and good governance.

Modi told them that the government will consider their ideas and while some of them may not work out, those that are feasible would be taken forward and may bring significant change.

He asked the industry leaders to think about what more they can do for the poorest of the poor.

"I want you to become soldiers of a prosperous and developed India. You are my team to take India forward," he said.

Modi said the event organised by the NITI Aayog was not a one-time event but that he wanted to institutionalise it and make it outcome-oriented.

"This is just a beginning. I want to link the teams that emerged here with the government departments so that there could be permanent interactions and we could work together for nation," he said.

He also urged the young CEOs to take their ideas forward within their own circles and bring change wherever they can.