New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS): To promote 'Ease of Living' as well as 'Ease of Doing Business', the Centre has reduced more than 25,000 compliances. The figure was furnished by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry after the valedictory session of the "National Workshop on the next phase of reforms to reduce Compliance Burden" which was held here.

Addressing the session, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal said India's compliance systems for citizens must be based on the basis of trust, while calling for a focus on initiatives which can reduce the compliance burden to provide timely delivery of services.

Goyal said that infinite possibilities in technology should aid the Centre's initiatives and not just further complicate the system. He also stressed the need for indigenous solutions to problems facing the country. "The Minister asked policy makers to consider the wide disparity in income, literacy level and the gaps in infrastructure, especially connectivity, while planning the delivery of services, especially if technology is involved," the ministry said in a statement.

Goyal spoke of the need to combine various services like the 'Digi locker' and the 'National Single Window System', so that repetitive processes are rationalised, gaps are bridged and redundancies are eliminated when it comes to applying for approvals and permissions.

Additionally, he called for the creation of a single identification number for businesses and individuals by merging the several identification numbers that exist presently, such as 'Aadhaar', 'PAN', 'TAN' so that delivery of services becomes smoother and faster.

"He also called for promotion of self- attestation, self- certification and self- regulation. He added that it is high time that compliance systems were built on trusting the integrity of the citizens," the statement added.