2 Years of Acche Din: Meenakshi Lekhi on NDA’s Policy Initiatives

NDA has stuck to its resolve of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’, writes Meenakshi Lekhi on Modi govt’s second anniversary.

(As the NDA government completes two years in power, The Quint brings for its readers ‘Modi@2’, a special series evaluating the performance of the current regime.)

The NDA government under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi completes two years in office. Way back in May 2014 what it inherited was a socio-economic climate of hopelessness and a catastrophic spiral into economic gloom. Successive governments in the past facilitated an import-driven regime to meet domestic consumption. Such a policy framework not only depleted our foreign exchange reserves but took away manufacturing and agricultural activity abroad. It is a no brainer that when we import less, domestic economic activity gets its fair share of new jobs and business opportunities.

It therefore, took some time to deal with a governance architecture which simply needed drastic make-over resulting in a corruption free, efficient and a development driven executive. Reform is a relatively slow but effective process wherein all stakeholders participate in a constructive framework of blending skills, capital and regulatory mechanisms to create jobs and businesses that propel economic prosperity. The three Ds of Demand, Democracy and Demography are in favour of India.

Reforms in Banking Sector

Among the many development driven initiatives, the key has been banking sector reforms. With exceptions though, the sector was more or less a tool for crony capitalists and anti-national forces to loot taxpayers’ money. Over Rs 10 lakh crore of non-performing assets and bad loans exist on banks’ books. Credit was accessible only to a select few.

For the first time in the history of independent India, the banks are held accountable for their deeds. Wilful defaulters and corrupt bankers are on the run. The Bankruptcy Bill has strengthened the process of credit offtake and efficient usage of taxpayers’ money in the banks.

The Jan Dhan Yojana saw opening of over 20 crore bank accounts. Never before in economic history would 15 million bank accounts have been opened on a single day. Never before has the Government of India organised a programme of such scale. The primary goal being direct transfer of government subsidies to people, by linking the unique identification (Aadhaar) card to PMJDY and getting beneficiaries to use the bank account.

Direct Benefit Transfer has so far been extended to 42 schemes funded by the government. PAHAL has become the largest direct cash transfer program of its kind in the world, with nearly 15 crore beneficiaries. The PMJDY is also considered as the world’s largest ‘Social Insurance Programme’ wherein poor families are covered with subsidised premiums.

Other Initiatives

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, launched on 25 June 2015, envisages construction of about 2 crore houses to benefit primarily slum dwellers, urban poor and people from economically weaker sections and lower income groups of society. In its first year alone, 2011 towns/cities in 27 states have been included under this mission. A total of over 4,25,000 houses have been sanctioned with a project cost of over Rs 24,600 crore.

The Make in India program is the centrepiece of the government’s drive to attract fresh foreign investment and spur job creation. The programme seeks to transform India into a global manufacturing powerhouse. Since its launch, the Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has pulled out all the stops to court the international community about their participation in the India story.

The Modi government’s economic initiatives has created fans and admirers domestically, among business leaders as well as foreign leaders. The world is eager to partner India in this initiative.

Make in India recognises ‘ease of doing business’ as an important factor to promote entrepreneurship. A number of initiatives have already been undertaken to ease business environment. Steps are being taken to de-licence and de-regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a business.

India’s high-value industrial sectors – defence, construction and railways – are now open to global participation. Policy in the defence sector has been liberalised and FDI cap raised from 26 percent to 49 percent. Portfolio investment in the defence sector is permitted up to 24 percent under the automatic route. Hundred percent FDI is allowed in the defence sector for modern and state- of- the- art technology on a case to case basis.

Hundred percent FDI under automatic route is permitted in construction, operation and maintenance in specified rail infrastructure projects. A simplified tax system has been formulated for ease of doing business. Basic customs duty on 22 inputs/raw materials has reduced manufacturing cost in various sectors.

Falsehood by Anti-Modi Brigade

The anti-Modi cottage industry has got nothing to criticise the government with and therefore resorts to rhetoric and false allegations. Just as they tried to frame him in the false Ishrat Jahan case while he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, several attempts are neing made to discredit him. “Rs 15 lakh to be deposited in every account” from the black money brought back to India is another bit of falsehood used by the anti-Modi brigade.

The fact of the matter is, in none of his rallies has Narendra Modi ever promised voters that he’ll deposit Rs 15 lakh in every citizen’s account. He had claimed that ‘there is so much money looted from India, that if all of it is brought back, then everyone’s share would be approximately Rs 15 lakh’. His speech in Chhattisgarh during the 2014 rally is available verbatim for all to see on YouTube. He has been misquoted for political adventurism. Sections of the Left-controlled media are responsible for such a motivated and malicious campaign against Shri Narendra Modi.

NDA’s Policy Initiatives

• Jan Dhan Yojana: An ambitious financial inclusion programme launched in August 2014 that provides an insurance cover to the poor.
  
• PAHAL: Direct benefit transfer scheme for LPG launched in January 2015, enabling automatic transfer of subsidy to respective bank accounts.
  
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: Social welfare programme for urban poor aimed at providing financial assistance for building houses.
  
• Make in India: Launched by Prime Minister Modi to encourage international companies to manufacture their goods in India.
  
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: A scheme that will provide free LPG connections to BPL families for a period of three years.
  

Adhering to ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ Resolve

The NDA government under the leadership of Hon. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
is developing national waterways to cut logistics cost, make Indian industry competitive and help developing smart townships along the rivers. The cost of travelling by water is substantially less compared to travelling by road or train. Going by road, the cost for example is Rs 1.50 (per km); by railway, it is one rupee and going by water, it is only 25 paise.

One of the significant policy initiatives has been the prevention of Chinese goods into the Indian markets. Anti-dumping duties on many items being imported from China and other such countries has resulted in the surge in domestic manufacturing sector. By promoting the domestic defence manufacturing sector the government could create over 90 lakh jobs.The ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ slogan of BJP has its footprints in the Modi government’s resolve to transform the lives of the poorest of the poor. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana - Scheme for providing free LPG connections to women from BPL households has been launched recently. Under the scheme, Rs 8000 crore has been earmarked for providing five crore LPG connections to BPL households.

This is the first time in the history of the country that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas would implement a welfare scheme benefitting crores of women belonging to the poorest households. Meeting the aspirations and creating opportunities for the people of world’s youngest country is an enormous task ahead for the government. India has become world’s fastest growing economy and the party has just begun.

(The writer is a BJP MP in Lok Sabha and party’s national spokesperson. She can be reached at @M_Lekhi)

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