First Year's Performance Shows NDA's Promise

The first year of the NDA government shows its determination and ability to face the multi-faceted problems that beset India. Some of these problems are chronic, inadequately addressed by the past governments. These include issues like rural sanitation, women literacy, gender disparity, irrigation, insecurity in unorganized sector, messy town planning etc. The others are acute, which were result of mismanagement during last 10 years of the UPA rule. These include high profile corruption cases, soaring inflation, dipping industrial production, faltering growth story of India and the plummeting international profile of India.

The UPA-II government had lost the faith of the people much before it lost the election. On coming to power, the NDA needed to restore the faith of the people in government. There was an urgent need for big ideas, efficient & transparent administration and a communicative government. The NDA government has employed some 'Big Ideas' to propel socio-economic-environmental transformation in India. These are 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan', 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana', 'Make in India', 'Skilled India', 'Srameva Jayate', 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao', 'Namami Gange' etc.

The dignity of Prime Minister's Office has been restored under the NDA government. The Prime Minister leads the government from the front. This indicates that accountability is coeval with authority. Under the previous government the authority got split between the Prime Minister and Chairperson, UPA although the latter was an unconstitutional post. The UPA years had also spawned a maze of 21 GOMs and nine E-GOMs that were mini-cabinets. The National Advisory Council (NAC), led by the UPA Chairperson, patronized its favourite civil society activists who would legislate but not accept responsibility. Such anarchy of governance has ceased under the NDA government.

The Prime Minister has opened up all communication channels with the citizens. People can write to him online (or offline) and participate in discussion groups of dedicated portal mygov.in. He is always in a communicative mode whether over 'Mann Ki Baat' on All India Radio, or in his various public rallies.

There is an unfair criticism levelled against the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi that he spent much time in foreign tours. The reality is that former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh spent no less time in foreign tours. But neither was his absence felt in India, nor his presence registered abroad. But our Prime Minister has used his foreign tours not merely to connect with their governments but also academia and society in those countries. All these tours have resulted India making strategic gains.

The economic parameters like inflation, GDP growth, FDI, index of industrial production etc reflect upon the functioning of any government. In all these indices the NDA government is performing well despite a bad monsoon in 2014 and extensive crop damage due to unseasonable rain last April.

The changes that the government envisages are transformation rather than incremental. There a great leap in manufacturing, infrastructure, electricity, communication, irrigation is necessary. It is only when the GDP size increases that an inclusive economy can be sustained by creation of jobs and greater allocation to social sector. This is an axiomatic truth which the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee repeated several times.

This government is efficient, because it is cohesive. It pulls together in one direction because it has sense of purpose. The bane of the UPA government was its incoherence. The Prime Minister who headed the government and the UPA Chairperson, who headed the National Advisory Council were not on the same page. While one was the proponent of neo-liberalism the other was champion of social activism.

The truth is that this government cares for farmers and workers in unorganized sectors. The compensation in case of crop damages have been increased by 1.5 times and the eligibility criterion lowered from 50 percent loss to 33 percent. The Prime Minister has launched 'Soil Health Card' scheme at national level. It would rationalize the fertilizer use by the farmer leading to economizing inputs and sustainable agricultural practices.

An overwhelming majority (94 percent) of workforce are in unorganized sector. It is with them in the mind that the government has brought social security schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. The overwhelming response to these schemes (7.5 crore subscription in 9 days) shows how astute the government has been reading the needs of the people. Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana 15.59 crore bank accounts have been opened, out of which 13.96 crore Rupay Debit cards have been issued. Though opening at zero-balance is permissible yet around Rs.16919 crores deposits have flowed into these accounts.

According to NSS survey there are 5.77 crore small business units. Most of them are run by people belonging to SC, ST and OBC category. A Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. (MUDRA) have been launched to support such enterprises. It would be statutorily backed by the Act in Parliament.

This government has shown the elan to turn difficulties into opportunity. Over the last one year troubles in West Asia viz, Iraq, Yemen etc generated a deluge of NRIs from those lands. The MEA played a stellar role in evacuation in tandem with the Indian Navy. The MoS, MEA personally oversaw the Yemen rescue operations from Djibouti. India not merely rescued 4,741 Indians from Yemen, but also 1,947 foreign nationals from as many countries that won it plaudits from world over. During the Nepal Earthquake (April 25) India responded within hours. The first Indian Airforce Aircraft landed in Kathmandu with relief materials within 6 hours; 10 10 NDRF teams, one Army Engineering Task Force, 18 Army medical units despatched within 24 hours.
This government distinguishes itself by action. The UPA passed several Acts whose implementation was tardy. The UPA's legislation on land acquisition, right to education and food security are its three prime examples.

The charge that NDA government is merely renaming schemes of the UPA is unfounded. The UPA rehashed NDA-1 schemes like Total Sanitation Campaign in form of Nirmal Bharat Yojana and the Freedom of Information Act, 2002 in form of Right to Information Act, 2005. Unfortunately the Gandhi family sees Congress as their private enterprise. The schemes named after Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv crowd out the rest. Though the name of Mahatma Gandhi is frequently invoked, his legacy has actually been usurped. While Congress might have many brilliant leaders, they have no chance of reaching top without being subservient of whims of the first family. The non-'Gandhi' PMs were made to look inefficient.

Nation building is a continuous process, upon which every government leaves its stamp. Former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee named his flagship projects as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Golden Quadrilateral Project, Antodaya Anna Yojana refusing any personal credit. It is true that we have initiated several schemes in name of late Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyay, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee etc. This is only to show that there were patriots and nation builders outside 'Gandhi Parivar' who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths.

Every citizen of this great country has the potential to contribute to nation building and with the right qualities to rise to lead our nation to greatness.

Coming from an entirely different background, I can fairly say that I see the top echelons of the Government working with such greater unity of purpose that today's Government of India looks like a world cup winning team or a battle worthy combat unit.

(Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd) is the Minister of State, Information & Broadcasting.)

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