The birthday of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, three-time Prime Minister of India and eloquent speaker, is celebrated as Good Governance Day in India. Good governance is very important for the development of the country.

Good Governance Day alerts every Indian to the need for good governance. On 25 December 2014, the government had decided to celebrate Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday as Good Governance Day. Former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malbya were awarded India's highest civilian honor "Bharat Ratna" by former President Pranab Mukherjee on 23 December 2014.

Vajpayee was a member of the Indian Parliament for four decades, having been elected 10 times to the Lok Sabha, the lower house and twice to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house.

Vajpayee, who started his life as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak with a vow to remain celibate throughout his life, was the first Prime Minister of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to complete 5 years in office as a non-Congress Prime Minister.

In 2014, the newly elected Narendra Modi government announced to celebrate the birthday of former Prime Minister Vajpayee as Good Governance Day.