Narendra Modi-led Indian government third most trusted: OECD

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in India is the third most trusted government in the world, after the governments of Switzerland and Indonesia, according to the latest report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The latest edition of the OECD's `Government at a Glance' report states that 73 per cent Indians have confidence in PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government in the country - the third highest on ''Trust in Government'' chart.

Whether it is demonetisation, GST, Swachh Bharat or Make in India; it is clear that Modi did factor in 'trust in government' while implementing these reforms, the report noted.

However, in 2007, 82 per cent Indians had confidence in the government, which was led by the Congress party, which is in the opposition now.

While the confidence in public institutions and governments has fallen globally, India is seeing a rise in the trust in the government, the OECD study has revealed.

With over 200 indicators of good governance, Government at a Glance report for 2017, which offers a detailed analysis of public service performance data and comparisons, has found that the trust in government indicator has seen a significant downfall globally.

While the confidence in public institutions is low, and the perception that public policies favour select interest groups has increased sharply in most countries, India, however, has defied this trend along with Indonesia and Lithuania, according to the OECD report.

The OECD report was intended to check whether, the confidence of people on their government, which fell substantially after 2008 financial crisis, have returned.

With a whopping 80 per cent people's trust, Switzerland has been placed at the top in the list of most trusted governments. Indonesia comes second with around 79 per cent people trusting their government.

On the other hand, President Donald Trump's US government has faith of a mere 30 per cent people while 41 per cent Britishers showed confidence in Theresa May-led government in the United Kingdom.

It is not surprising to see countries like the United States, Greece, Brazil and United Kingdom rank in the lower half of this measure, considering the political turmoil being witnessed by these nations.

The government of South Korea, which has faced massive corruption scandals following the impeachment of Prime Minister Park Geun-hye, lies at the bottom with only 25 per cent people having confidence in their government.

The OECD report says that word trust depicts the ''positive perception about the actions of an individual or an organisation''. ''Trust in government leads to greater compliance with regulations and the tax system, facilitates social and political consensus, enhances the acceptance of policies that call for short-term sacrifices by citizens, and mobilises citizen engagement to enable open and inclusive governance processes,'' states the report.

"Trust in government leads to greater compliance with regulations and the tax system, facilitates social and political consensus, enhances the acceptance of policies that call for short-term sacrifices by citizens, and mobilises citizen engagement to enable open and inclusive governance processes."