Assessment of Modi's Government.

ASSESSMENT OF MODI’S GOVERNMENT

 The idea of struggle was never very distant for Modi. He used to assist his father in the running of tea stall till the time RSS inducted him as a full-time member. With whatever minimal training he received from the party's associates, he surged ahead and exhibited enough capability to be given the charge of the ABVP (the student wing of RSS). His diligence and dedication towards the party hardly ebbed despite the fact that he was simultaneously pursuing a Master's degree in Political Science. This 'average student' from Vadnagar tutored himself to take greater steps on a national level.

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, is one of those few politicians whose name when heard brings to mind the image of a tea seller making tall claims. No other politician in Indian history after Independence has been scrutinised as severely as Modi, but on the flip side, no Chief Minister has been loved so wholeheartedly.  His way of functioning has also been the topic of much debate in the political arena with commentators and subject-matter experts lambasting him for carrying the DNA of fascist leadership. His critics call him a self-centered autocrat who doesn't care a hoot about the BJP or the country. He finds himself in the bad books of analysts as he is also accused of twisting facts to suit political motives on more than one occasion. 

In the span of one year he proved his ability and his skills and showed great achievements.  He aimed at applying the Gujarat model development throughout the nation. Even Before becoming the PM, he had emerged as the indisputable champion of the Lok Sabha Election 2014 by delivering the party's best results ever in the general election of India. He took the oath of becoming the prime Minister on 26^th of May.  Though the government has come in the good books of foreign economies and the ranking agencies like S&P, but not much improvement has been seen on the ground level. To analyse properly  it’s work in the past 1 year let’s look at all the pros and cons. 


Pros 

                                  
     The first and the foremost sector which has shown great results is the Foreign Policy and relation sector. Modi, since he came into power, has visited 9 countries and has developed a great bond with them. He has also improved the countries relations with the neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. In Bhutan he assisted two major projects – First being 600MW Hydro-electric project and second by providing assistance in building Supreme Court. He emphasized on achieving the target of 10,000 MW target in hydro power cooperation.  In Nepal he signed a 69 million grant to supply iodized salt to curb the iodine deficiency issues prevailing there. Also India’s assistance to Nepal during its suffering times because of Earthquakes is well known to everybody.  His visit to Brazil for the BRICS Summit was also a win-win. India is keen to further deepen and broad-base its strategic partnership with Russia, especially in defence, nuclear energy, trade and investment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brazil and invited him to visit the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. Modi’s Bond with USA President Barack Obama has also been greatly talked about and the Inter-China relation is also not hidden, rather Modi’s ties with China had started to flourish while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.  In the ministry, Sushma Swaraj, The minister of external affairs, personally intervened in responding to Indian’s stuck in conflict zones. Even when the drinking water crisis hit the Maldives in 2014, Swaraj ensured swift help. Hence, in the sector of external affairs The Modi wave came out to be a boon.
                                                          The next topic we talk about is his initiation of schemes and programmes for the welfare of the society. Swach Bharat Abhiyan, Make in India, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, Digital India and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna are amongst the few. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with this exquisite idea of linking all the families with the banking system. On the very first day of the launch of the programmes nearly 15 million bank accounts were opened and each of the account holder was given Rs 1, 00,000 insurance cover.  According to the Yojna, anyone can open new bank account with zero balance too. This scheme was brought about to curb the problem of money lenders and debt trap that the poor face. Next aim he has in his mind is the idea of a Digital India which will focuses on making all the communications between the ministries and departments digital. He also plans to connect all the villages in the rural areas through internet. The Swach Bharat Abhiyan is also a programme by Modi which created a wave in the country. It aimed at a cleaner and greener India. Pahal Scheme provides subsidies on LPG gas and hence is a beneficial to the LPG consumers, to the government and to the oil marketing companies since this will prevent the unauthorized selling of the LPG cylinders and will also facilitate good consumer relationship as companies will now be in direct contact with the customers.     

Another aspect of our economy which came in good terms after Modi government is the Investment in the Indian Economy. Investment in Indian economy came to a rise after Modi improved the foreign relations and helped in increasing the ranking amongst the top agencies like S&P.  From negative ranking the economy has finally become stable and the trust of other economies in our country has gradually increased.  GDP of India has also shown a praise-worthy increase from 5.02 to 5.64 in 2014 and is predicted to reach 7-8 by 2017 by the World Bank.

 Eradicating Inflation was also one such aim of Modi government which got fulfilled to an extent. In the December of 2014 inflation hit low to about 5 percent which is the lowest in the past 2-3 years.

In The Defence sector over 40 new proposals worth Rs 1 lakh crore were approved setting a scorching pace over the last 1 year. He also reviewed several critical projects that were stuck for long under A.K Antony’s regime.
Also, after long no terrorist attacks have taken place in the country. Modi govt. insisted more on to make the defence arsenals right here in India rather than purchasing it at about 10 time’s higher price from other countries. This indeed helps in promoting "Make in India" campaign and will also help the country to save crore of rupees. Also India allows 100 per cent FDI in defence. Hence, his work in the Defence department is praise worthy.

                   After all this, the biggest achievement is yet to be mentioned. Modi has developed a faith amongst the Indians living abroad.  As said by Shrikant Sharma, national secretary of BjP government, India is emerging as a key power under the worlds map. In the last 11 months Modi Government has evacuated 1,000 students from Ukraine and 7,000 Indians from Iraq including nurses. Similarly he assured the safe return of 3,000 Indians who were trapped in Syria. We can say that whenever any crisis came upon the citizens, Modi rescued them all.

But apparently, not everyone has seen the Acche Din coming. Though Modi has created a wave and done a lot of great things for the economy, nothing serious can be seen on the ground level. The employment sector, education sector are amongst a few which has seen a great fall. Let us now look into the dark side of the government.

Cons

                    Prime Ministers promised to replace the 2013 legislation by the land acquisition bill and also promised to show considerable increase in the working of the MGNREGA act. The land Acquisition bill which aimed at creating Modi’s grand vision to build a superior infrastructure, affordable housing plans, and cities has not yet been passed by the parliament. And the performance of MGREGA has detoriated, it rather showed the worst performance of the scheme in the past year. Wages were paid late and the number of days that work was provided was also not 90 days. Fund for The National Rural Livelihood Mission have been slashed from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore. Even for a programme like the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the money allocations or funds have been cut down to Rs 14,000 crore from Rs 20,000 crore and there is huge uncertainty of this scheme.

                                                          On looking into the education sector, nothing good can really be seen. The rolling back of FYUP in Delhi University and the replacement of German with Sanskrit as a third language In Kendriya Vidyalas in the middle of the course created a mess.
Such a risk on a career of a student can hardly be justified. The year also lead to the resignation of some of the key people such as NCERT director, IIT Delhi Director and IIT Bombay Board of governor’s chairman (who later withdrew the resignation).

                                      Cleaning of Ganga was publicized as one of the main targets of the government and also assurity was given regarding adequate flow through the stretch of the river and regeneration of biodiversity in the river. Another high profile promise that was made was about the interlinking of the rivers. But the Ganga cleaning project has been working on a very slow pace and the ministry is not even sure of what they have to do. Little progress has been seen on the creation of a warning system of floods. The water mission plan which is under the national action plan on climatic changes has also remain unattended. There has been drastic cuts in the budget of the ministry and the encouragement of water conservation system is not being taken care of. Therefore we can say not much has been attained in this field as well.          

                                                          The ministry has courted a lot of controversies including the ban of INDIA”S DAUGHTER documentary by Leslee Udwin on the gang rape case of 2012. A major controversy was the ministry’s removal of home secretary Anil Goswami amid allegations that he had called CBI officials to stall the arrest of Matang Sinh in the Saradha scam. The case of the Bihar Tea seller, who was initially a national level swimmer, also came into light when he claimed Modi to be negligent towards Bihar. Even Shatrughan Sinha had said that Modi wasn’t seen in Bihar since the day he won elections. The next drawback is that states like Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Telengana and many others are still without governors.  Also the government is yet to fulfil its promise of bringing Underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim to India for trial.

                                                In the railway sector, Modi had allocated money on 30 ongoing projects with high rates of returns and a never before 40% higher allocation was given for the cleanliness of trains and stations. He also aimed at making the trains faster and brought the idea of bullet trains. After 1 year has passed we have only seen thorns in this bunch of roses. The speed of existing trains is yet to increase, rather the punctuality figures have fallen drastically. Cleanliness of the trains and stations can’t be seen. Despite having a policy, not even a single penny of FDI has arrived. Work on introducing bullet trains is still slow.

 After going through the pros and the cons we are now able to judge where Modi’s Government stands. From introducing International Yoga day to improving relations with nearly 9 countries, Modi has proved himself after all. He introduced Swach Bharat Abhiyan, Make in India and plans to attain a Digital India. But we also see the harsh appalling realties where the railway sector, the education sector and the agricultural sector has suffered so much in the past year. Even the level of employment in the economy has decreased. But a year too less a time for any government to prove themselves. All we can perceive from what the government has done is that the intent is good but not enough action has been taken on the ground level. But is the intent enough? India is waiting for action happen.


                                                                  
Following video can be seen to have a graphical analysis of the Modi Government.