The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has completed three years in office. Its performance has been generally positive, although there are areas in which it leaves much to be desired. Doubts whether the coalition government would be stable have been laid to rest; the UPA coalition partners have pulled together and it does seem that they will complete the full term. Despite differences on some issues between coalition partners or between the coalition and the Left, the UPA government has managed to balance divergent interests. It has shown the ability to evolve policy after building consensus. An important achievement of the government is that it has been able to repair India’s secular fabric, which had been torn apart under the previous government. Although there have been some communal flare-ups these have been minor. The government has acted quickly to localise incidents of communal violence. On the economic front, the UPA government has been successful in maintaining India’s high rate of growth. Steps have been taken to improve the country’s energy security. However, India is still not shining for the common man. Prices are rising and essential commodities remain beyond the reach of India’s poor.
The UPA has done well to empower the Indian citizen with the Right to Information. This has introduced long-overdue transparency in several areas of bureaucratic functioning. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is a laudable step in addressing rural unemployment. Yet several socio-economic initiatives have failed to meet targets. The Women’s Reservation Bill has made no progress through Parliament and no efforts have been made by the UPA to tackle the problem of criminalisation of politics. On the foreign policy front, India’s relations with the US are on an upswing but the much-touted civilian nuclear deal is still work in progress. India’s relations with all its neighbours have improved remarkably. However, the UPA’s Sri Lanka policy appears to be drifting without direction and there is a danger of India losing its traditional influence in the island nation.
It is in the area of performance of individual ministers that the UPA government will have to pull up its socks immediately. The performance of several ministers has been patchy, if not poor. Ministers have announced policy changes without consulting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Prime Minister will have to crack the whip and demand better performance from his ministers.