NDA govt completes 100 days: One nation, one poll likely to be reality in Modi 3.0, UCC a work in progress
One nation, one election will “most certainly” be rolled out in the current term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA dispensation and Uniform Civil Code was a work in progress, top government and BJP sources said on Sunday.
The ruling party is also drafting a plan to realise Modi’s pledge of bringing 1 lakh politically non-affiliated youth into public life, sources said. Interacting with a select group of journalists here today, a top government functionary said, “One nation, one election, which the PM announced in his Independence Day speech, will most certainly come in this term itself.”
About the PM’s announcement on bringing fresh talent into politics to root out family-based political dynasties in India, the top BJP source said even as the PM had urged all parties to work in this direction, the ruling BJP “will under a comprehensive plan induct youth into politics”. The focus will principally be on SC, ST, OBC youth, the source said.
The source added that five states had set up committees to draft Uniform Civil Codes and their reports were expected soon. “Fortunately, no one has challenged the Uttarakhand UCC law so far,” the top functionary said, signalling forward movement on UCC. The interaction was held to coincide with the completion of the Modi government’s first 100 days.
Sources said stable policies and evidence-based reforms across sectors had pushed the Indian growth story forward in these 100 days.
“When you see the achievements across segments, you find a beautiful picture emerging,” an official said, rejecting Opposition’s accusations of jobless GDP growth and calling for the need to see jobs as a broader segment rather than as mere synonyms to government employment. “If Rs 11 lakh crore have been set aside for infrastructure, will this not boost employment?” asked a top government source, hailing achievements in internal security, diplomacy, law and order and governance fronts under Modi.
On diplomacy, this source said India had finally shown to the world that “its foreign policy has a spine”. Top sources counted the following as major achievements in the first 100 days of government — public procurement at MSP (120% as against 30% under Congress-led UPA; non-discriminatory delivery of basic facilities to 60 crore poor; approval of infrastructure schemes worth Rs 3 lakh crore in the first three months of Modi government; issuance of certificates to 11 lakh women who freshly began earning over Rs 1 lakh a year; reduction in terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir; rollout of new criminal laws and 140 reforms in GST regime to make the system robust and more efficient. Asked about Manipur, the sources said Kuki groups had grown suspicious of Assam Rifles being replaced with the CRPF, but after three rounds of talks with them a resolution was expected.
“One battalion has been replaced and more will be replaced soon,” the top source said, adding that the security forces had adequate modern weapons to deal with the situation at hand and the weapons being detected in Manipur were not “modern as claimed but locally made”.
On Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said “three families will not win J&K elections: Abdullahs, Muftis and Congress family”. Asked if the BJP would work with leaders like Engineer Rashid should a need arise in the post-poll scenario, the source said “no”.
The source, however added that there were seven small parties and 32 Independents in fray in the UT and the BJP could work with them after results. The BJP source also sounded confident of winning Haryana and Maharashtra despite anti-incumbency, saying “BJP governments are a natural choice of people”.
Census soon, no call on including caste query
- Senior government sources on Sunday said the decadal census would be conducted in the country soon
- They added that a decision on whether to include a query on caste as part of the census exercise was yet to be taken
- Opposition parties as well as BJP allies, including the JD(U) and the LJP, have sought a caste census. LoP Rahul Gandhi has in recent months made caste census his main political plank
