Seeking another term

In the last four years, the NDA government proposed several innovative schemes to make the lives of the common citizens easy.  Doubling the farmers’ income, ensuring a Rs 5 lakh medicare policy per family for more than 10 crore poor households under the Ayushmann Bharat scheme, electrifying four crore households, building 100 smart cities and so on — the list promising a great future is quite long. Actual deliveries of most of the promised largesse, however, exceed the five-year mandated deadline, May 2019. The message to the electorate is simple — the promise of the ‘New India’ demands another five-year mandate. Hence, most of the mega-programmes appear like poll promises for the 2019 General Election. Any good government must make public policies with a long-term vision. But it will excel only if the contours of such promises are visible on the ground before the incumbent seeks another mandate.

There have been some remarkable achievements of the Modi government in its four years of rule, including the implementation of the GST regime, but this too was not without expensive glitches. It has taken decisive stands to empower the single mother by relaxing the passport rules. The government has given a strong message to the society by enacting stricter legislation against crime against women, mandating death penalty for the rape of a girl child. Womenfolk, who constitute half of India’s citizenry, are, however, waiting anxiously to get a proportional representation in the Parliament.

It is heartening to note the BJP’s “performance dashboard” of its 48-month achievements, which enumerates the NDA’s quantifiable achievements such as rural electrification, open defecation-free villages, Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra Yojana, PM Awas Yojana, distribution of over 13.4 crore soil health cards, and distribution of cooking gas connections under Ujjwala Yojana. Undoubtedly, the Ujjwala scheme had played a crucial role during the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, but the owners’ pride was short-lived: They’ve got free LPG connections, but can’t afford even subsidised gas cylinders. The government, which quietly mopped up revenues accrued when the international oil price was low for almost three years, is now in a fix as petrol and diesel rates are at an all-time high, threatening to stoke inflation and slow down the economic growth.