It has been Seven Years since the citizens of Bharata chose Mr Narendra Modi as their Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister of a country filled with strange contrasts and competing
ambitions and ideologies, the road towards creating a socially, economically viable nation has not been easy to traverse. Despite that the current administration has been successful in
laying down foundations upon which a vibrant nation can be built upon.
Entrusted with the enormous task of paving a path for Bharata towards a Social, political and
economic transformation; the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by the Prime minister of
our country on 2nd October 2014; on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti. Only by taking care of one’s
immediate environment could one hope to move on to tackling the bigger challenges that lay
ahead. The Swachh Bharat mission was launched to achieve the same end in itself. This
policy is based on a demand-centric model. The idea is to generate demand among the rural
population for sanitization products. This was done implementing schemes that incentivised
building of toilets in rural areas, by providing tags such as open defecation free zones (ODF).
Etc.
It is due to this mission implemented by the NDA government that the rural sanitation
coverage in India improved significantly; from a mere 39 % in 2014 to 95% in 2018 itself.
Nearly 8.7 crore household toilets have already been constructed under the Mission. The
focus throughout has nevertheless been on delivering good quality sanitisation services to the households across India. The evidence for the same was found in the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) conducted under the World Bank support project which found that 93.4% of the households in rural India who have access to a toilet also use it; confirming that behaviour change is happening on the ground level too.
India has reaped significant benefits as a result of this policy implementation; in a report
titled ‘The Financial and Economic Impact of SBM in India (2017), UNICEF estimated that
each household in an Open defecation free(ODF) village in rural India saves Rs. 50,000 every year. A study released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) also found
significant improvements in diarrhoea prevalence and stunting among children in ODF
villages, compared to nearby non-ODF villages.
In order to reduce the Burden on Mother Nature herself, India helped in the formation of the
International Solar Alliance (ISA); a treaty based inter-governmental organization working to create a global market system to tap the benefits of solar power and promote clean energy
applications for a secure and a sustainable world. It is an alliance of the “sunshine countries”
i.e., the countries lying in between the two tropics – Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of
Capricorn with an objective of efficient utilization of solar energy. Mr. Modi referred to the
sun-rich countries as “Suryaputras” and spoke about the huge potential of these countries to
make use of the abundant natural resource, solar energy. PM Modi stated,
“The Sun is the source of all energy. The world must turn to solar, the power of our future”.
One of the biggest hurdles that the Indian Government has faced from time immaterial has
been the lethargic and ineffective bureaucracy and the red tape that severely hampers
effective implementation of Government policies. Another problem was that of the
‘middlemen’ who never allowed the benefits to reach the common masses. The problem was
especially serious when the economy did not have enough finances to go to wastage.
Let us take an example of the Midday Scheme, which aimed to provide nutritious food to the
children. It was initially based on highly decentralized model employing the help of Local
NGO’s to ensure that the food reaches the children. In December 2005, Delhi police seized
eight trucks laden with 2,760 sacks of rice meant for primary school children. The rice was
being transported from Food Corporation of India godowns Bulandshahr district to North
Delhi. The police stopped the trucks and investigators later discovered that the rice was being stolen by an NGO. In November 2006, the residents of Pembong village (30 km from
Darjeeling) accused a group of teachers of embezzling midday meals. In a written complaint,
the residents claimed that students at the primary school had not received their midday meal
for the past year and a half. In December 2006, The Times of India reported that school staff
was inflating attendance in order to obtain food grains. Twenty-three children died in Dharma
Sati village in Saran District on 16 July 2013 after eating pesticide-contaminated mid day
meals. On 31 July 2013, 55 students at a government middle school fell ill at Kalyuga village
in Jamui district after their midday meal provided by an NGO. On the same day, 95 students
at Chamandi primary school in Arwal district were ill after their meal.
It was to avoid such problems that India was plagued with, that the Government of India
launched the Digital India campaign on 1st July 2015. The idea was to ensure that the
Government's services are made available to citizens electronically through improved online
infrastructure by increasing Internet connectivity and making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. It also made sure that the benefit directly reaches the
target audience and the chances of corruption or policy failure are reduced significantly.
As result of the digital India Campaign, there has been a substantial increase in electronic
transactions related to e-governance. Internet data is now used as a major tool for the delivery of the services and the urban internet penetration has reached 64%. An optical fiber network of 2, 74,246 km has connected over 1.15 lakh Gram Panchayats under the Bharat Net programme. India has entered into an age of digital and social media where internet has been made accessible to all.
A Common Service Center (CSC) has been created under the National e-Governance Project of the Indian government which provides access for information and communication
technology (ICT). Through computer and Internet access, the CSCs provide multimedia
content related to e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment, and other
government and private services. This not helps in ensuring the citizens are aware of the
policies implemented by the government, but also helps in improving transparency
significantly. In order to improve the social and economic conditions in rural India, digital
villages have been established along with well-equipped facilities such as solar lighting, LED
assembly unit, sanitary napkin production unit, and Wi-Fi choupal.
The pronounced importance of the Digital India campaign can been seen in the time of the
COVID-19 pandemic situation that allowed for creative solutions to the problem at hand such
as working from home or even establishing a start-up, improving business processes and
conducting online business within the digital ecosystem. When the world has been engulfed by a COVID-19 pandemic crisis, various activities could not be carried out normally. The Digital India Campaign however ensured that India would be able to combat it. Activities were able to continue from home during a crisis by the use of a Smartphone through the internet, because almost all people have their own smartphone, without requiring additional purchase of hardware. For formal learning, people could take the opportunity to use social media platforms to undertake conversations easily by using smart phones, even tablets. Teenagers or adults who are still studying in higher education institutions can undertake continuous learning for their work assignments. For example, they can use these tools to communicate through social media such as the WhatsApp, Telegram, Zoom, Microsoft Team, and Edmodo apps to connect with friends and lecturers.
It has also helped in an increased vigilantism and support for the marginalised communities
that have been worse off in this pandemic. Social welfare organisations along with the an
active community in the social media have been able to address various contingencies from
the arrangement of proper transport system for the migrant labourers to help them return to
their homes to even the arrangement of important medical facilities for those adversely
affected by the pandemic.
The backbone of a country towards economic sustainability is the underlying infrastructure
for trade. In order to make India an attractive market for international businesses, the current
administration has implemented radical changes to facilitate the ease of doing business in
India. The business reforms have included resolving insolvency issues in India in a faster and
efficient manner for which the government established a modern insolvency regime in 2016
(via Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016) as a part of a comprehensive strategy to reform
corporate law. This remarkable change has been confirmed by the Ease of doing Business
Report of 2020, where India’s ranking has improved from 142nd position in 2014 to 63rd in
the 2020 report; a remarkable leap for such a big and complex economy plagued with red
tape and infrastructural deficiencies. The report specifically points out the impact of recent
business reforms that have made starting a business in India easier and has also streamlined import and export of goods from the country. There has also been a significant increase in the FDI inflow in the country; India attracted a total FDI inflow of $72.12 billion from January to April 2021 despite facing externalities caused due to COVID.
The government of India also introduced the Bharatmala Pariyojna; the second largest
construction project in the country since National Highways Development programme. The
government through this project has aimed to improve connectivity, particularly on economic
corridors and far flung remote areas to ensure a quicker movement of cargo and therefore a
better facilitation of trade. The important features include-
(1) Improvement in the efficiency of existing corridors through the development of
Multimodal Logistics Parks and elimination of chokepoint;
(2) Improving connectivity in North East and increasing harmony with Inland Waterways;
(3) Emphasis on the use of scientific and technological planning;
(4) Satellite mapping of corridor;
(5) Delegation of powers for successful completion of Phase I by 2022.
A total of 322 projects in a length of 12,413 km have been awarded and 2921 km has been
constructed under Bharatmala Pariyojana till August 2020.
The Government of India has not only taken steps to improve the ease of business in India,
but also the ease of living in India. On 15th August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced the Jal Jeevan Mission, with the aim of providing tap water supply to every
household by 2024. The idea is to provide functional tap connection to Schools, Anganwadi
centres, Gram Panchayat buildings, Health centers, wellness centers and community
buildings and provide potable water where the water quality is an issue. So far under the
scheme 4 crore rural households have been covered. This includes remotely inaccessible
villages like the Kakisnur village of Velairpad Mandal, in Andhra Pradesh; a home to 200
people without any connectivity or power supply, accessible after a 20 km ride along
Godavari River. The administration had to load drilling machines on a boat and erect a solar
power based dual pump in order to ensure it was possible for the potable water to be supplied to the entire village.
These are but only a few of the policy decisions that have not only been taken but also have
been successfully implemented by the current administration. This is not to say that the work
has been done. The current administration still has a lot of challenges to overcome in its bid
to repay the faith the Indic community has shown in them from 2014.
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