365 days of Modi government’s performance

< 365 days of Modi government’s performance -Published in Beyond Headlines, An online magazine on May 27th I was really wondering why do the electronic media got into frenzy and running several hours of discussion on Modi’s 365 days of governance and the print media is publishing endless articles on the same subject. The politicians, senior journalists, the ex beauracrates, columnists, academicians, freelance writers and bloggers are into these discussions untiringly in the last one week. My rational mind was telling me, “How is it possible for any government to have concrete achievements in all the sectors within one year of their government after several years of policy paralysis?” My opinion was that, it is too early to pass a judgment on the performance of the new government. But soon I had to change my opinion, because there seems to be a logic in the argument of the analysts that, the government need not show any record of achievements within a year, but, there should be at least some symptoms to show that they are in the right direction so that, what all they promised can be achieved within their term of administration. More over, it is understood that the people are not anxious to compare the performance of the previous and the present government’s but, between the tall promises given by Modi during his hectic election campaigns and the symptoms of fulfillment of those promises which were tall and plenty. Moreover, if there is too much criticism in the assessment of their performance, only the PM Modi and his team are to be blamed. It is because, PM Modi was in the habit of making tall and absurd statements in foreign soils regarding the performance of the previous governments as if India remained an under development nation during their rule and he is going to convert it into a develped nation very quickly by all his reform measures. Can any responsible PM fail to give credit to the previous regimes for what ever achievements in several sectors and made this nation self sufficient in several goods and services and could reach 8.5% rate growth at one stage? Of course no body is denying the fact that, the Prime Minister with brutal majority in the lok Sabha , a week opposition, unquestioned centralised power vested on him by his party and with power of articulation can do wonders unlike the previous UPA government which was paralysed by coalition politics and dual power centers . But it doesn’t mean that the NDA can govern with talk alone without being accompanied by concrete results in the economic and social fronts. Look at the list of gaps between the promises and achievements • Has PM Modi succeeded in removing the hurdles in the way of ease doing business after appealing thunderously to the foreign investors to make it in India? Are they not waiting patiently for some evidence of reforms in the way of ease doing business? • What is the benefit India got by all those grand functions or melas arranged for meeting the insecure NRIs other tan the extensive media coverage which • Is the corporate sector satisfied with speed of required reforms which were promised to them before the election? • Is the farm sector happy with the dangerous provisions of the Land Acquisition Bill and the failure to ensure control over the input prices, poor compensation for natural calamities and inadequate farm income? • Is the youth satisfied with the job creation speed which was promised to get accelerated with tremendous increase in domestic and foreign investment? • Has the trade deficit between China and India and with some other countries narrowed down by his “successful trips” to half a dozen advanced countries? • Are the HRD ministry’s various directions satisfying the academicians who are worried about the hidden agenda to saffronise the education sector? • Are the state governments happy over the reduction of central funds for the social sectors? • Can they claim that, the corruption at all levels of governance is controlled just because there is no out break of scam at the central government level? • What has happened to the tallest promise of Modi regarding black money? • Is it enough to coin slogan after slogan and create photo opportunities and give wide publicity as if river Ganga can be cleaned and the whole nation is going to become clean and toilets facilities are to be created over night through a magial wand? • Is the PM happy with fact that he has made more a speeches abroad than at home (in the Parliament particularly) in the first five months of his term? ’ Is his Cabinet ministers and the beauracracy satisfied with his centralized or unitary style governance? • Has he got any right to say in a foreign soil that the Indians were so far ,ashamed to call themselves Indians and now only their prestige is restored (after he started ruling India) ? Is it not a most dishonorable statement made about 1. 3 billion Indians? • Do the minorities feel safe and secure under his rule? • Is it alright to centralise all the powers with him without trusting his cabinet colleagues in a democracy? • Is it alright to concentrate only on foreign affairs when urgent domestic problems wait in the queue for urgent solutions? • Is the PM really thinking that the common people are very pleased with the announcements regarding grand statues, tube trains, smart cities clean India and Ganga campaigns and indifference to the growing number of farmers suicide? • Is he not in a position to feel the under current of anger regarding soaring retail prices, corruption at every level of governance and delay in removing obstacles to job growth? • Why the RTI commissioner is not yet appointed and not any announcement made about the much promised Lok pal and three election commissioners posts not filled up? There are thus endless questions that are to be answered by the ruling party. What is the need to spend money, time and energy on celebrating their one year stay in power? Is it possible to fool all the people all the time using the power of articulation alone? When will the aggressive BJP spokespersons appearing in the media 24x7 hours learn that “actions will speak louder than words?” The middle and poor classes , care a damn about macro variables like GDP , Whole Sale Price Index, current rupee value, FDI inflow, quantum of black money likely to be unearthed (God only knows when ) trades and budget deficits, Standard and Poor rating of India , IMF certificate on Indian economic indicators ,Obama’s article on Modi and the NRI’s glorification of Modi , Gar Vapsi programme, Ram Mandir construction, remove of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, introduction of common civil code( just to irritate the Muslims ) . FDI in retail trade etc. For the common people , any government which provides them adequate water ,electricity, shelter, affordable food price, education and health facilities , job for their youth, security for women , care for elderly, removal of corruption at lower levels and priority to agricultural and social sector’s hitherto neglected needs is a good government . Such governments they will elect repeatedly. Other wise they will use the powerful weapon of vote to dethrone them with single digit MP seats in the next election No government can expect to remain in power for a along time with grand slogans , self praise and constant rhetoric alone. Is not history the great teacher to our political bosses? To become a popular government, the BJP should set their priories right taking into consideration the basic and urgent needs of the people. Statues, smart cities, tube trains and endless foreign trips by those in charge of governance can wait.