JOIN USAnd, the promises remain...
As his government completes three years in office on May 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can pat himself on the back for at least one solid achievement – winning the perception battle vis-a-vis his political opponents. He has become a formidable election winning machine, upstaging even the BJP and insulating his government from party politics. The unprecedented electoral success, however, has not helped perk up inclusive governance. More than half way through his term, it is a mixed bag with some hits and misses.
The government has implemented a slew of welfare schemes and developmental projects. However, its handling of issues like internal security (no coherent strategy to contain Kashmir militancy and Left-wing extremism), job creation, foreign policy, women’s empowerment, farmers’ suicide and social cohesion have been shoddy.
The government did commendable work in initiating schemes like Kisan Vikas Patras, crop insurance for farmers, Atal Pension Yojana for the unorganised sector and Jan Aushadhi Yojana for retail sales of generic drugs. A unique combination of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile (JAM), billed as the biggest financial inclusion initiative in the world, was put in place to render benefits transfer cashless and plug subsidy leakages.
Opening up sectors for Foreign Direct Investment and passage of the GST Bill, India’s biggest tax reform bill, are expected to accelerate growth. Last year alone, the government earned Rs 45,000 crore through disinvestment in PSUs (almost double that of A B Vajpayee’s five-year term). Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has fixed an ambitious target of Rs 72,000 crore for the next year. The government’s record on power generation, rural electrification and construction of multi-lane roads has been impressive. Also, inflation has been contained to some extent.
However, on the flip side, the government could have done much more to address the gnawing governance deficit. Crimes against women, Dalits and minorities are on the rise. Cultural police, ‘gau rakshaks’ and anti-Romeo squads roam around assaulting defenceless citizens in the name of religion and misplaced nationalism as the government remain passive.
Not only has Modi’s 2014 assurance of creating two crore jobs per annum remained a pipe dream, but the last three years saw dwindling job opportunities. The IT and BT industry is going through a crisis with large-scale retrenchments. The promise of bringing black money back from foreign tax havens has turned out to be farcical.
The GDP declined from 7.9% in 2015-16 to 7.1% in 2016-17. Industrial production grew by 2.6% last financial year but plummeted to 0.4% this fiscal. Despite “Make in India” slogan and the promise to make India a manufacturing hub, infrastructure growth in core sectors slumped from 9.3% last year to 5% this year.
The prime minister kick-started the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” scheme for girl children, but violence against women are on the rise. The Rajya Saba had cleared the women’s reservation bill way back in 2010. Despite having brute majority in the Lok Sabha, the government has shown little inclination in passing the women empowerment law. On May 26, 2014, Modi created history of sorts by inviting heads of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) nations, and also Mauritius, to his inauguration, earning national and international approbation for the epochal gesture of care and respect to our small and immediate neighbours.
Squandering goodwill
Three years down the line, the foreign office appears to have squandered the goodwill. Last week, in a royal snub to New Delhi, five friendly neighbours – Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Myanmar – signed several agreements connected to China’s Belt and Road Initiative at the conclave hosted in Beijing but boycotted by India. Foreign policy experts feel that China is using the opportunity to further its geopolitical interests, even as New Delhi blundered.
Kashmir is on the boil again as the ruling coalition partners, the PDP and the BJP, play out their turf wars. When militancy was at its peak in the 1990s, the Valley had recorded 47% voting, that went up to over 60% in 2014. In sharp contrast, in the recent bypolls, only 6% of the voters turned up at polling booths. The surgical strike on militant camps across the Line of Control has not deterred Islamabad from carrying out terror attacks. Recently, in Poonch sector, an audacious Pakistani rogue squad shot five policemen dead and sneaked 200 metres inside the Indian territory, killing two soldiers and mutilating their bodies.
It is rather surprising that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not have a full-time minister. After Manohar Parrikar preferred the Goa chief minister’s post over the MoD, an overburdened Jaitley, not in the pink of health, has been given additional charge of defence.
Demonetisation was trumpeted as a panacea that will curb black money, cut terror funds and eliminate counterfeit currency, but none of the stated objectives have been achieved. Rather, it resulted in the death of more than 100 people in ATM queues. Six months after the note ban, the government is cagey about disclosing the quantum of black money it has recovered. Despite being voluble about tackling corruption, the prime minister has shown little interest in appointing a Lokpal (anti-graft ombudsman). Though the bill was passed in 2014 and an amendment incorporated last year, it has not been made operational on flimsy grounds.
Despite the negatives, like a consummate illusionist, Modi continues to win elections, from panchayat to state Assemblies. The prime minister was the mascot even for the Delhi Municipal Corporation polls. He has been able to fire citizens’ imagination with his nationalistic slogans -“StartUp India, StandUp India, Make in India, Digital India, IT+IT=IT”, though they have since lost their sheen in the absence of follow-up action. It will be wise for the prime minister to remember that his electoral success is due, to a large extent, to TINA factor, a scenario that can change. Nevertheless, the government has time on its side to go in for course correction.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in New Delhi)