Commentators across a wide spectrum have felt that prime minister N Modi speech on the 69th Independence Day was stereotyped, lacking in new ideas and did not cover a number of important issues such as foreign relations, relation with neighbouring countries [especially Pakistan], terrorism, internal governance, cooperative federalism, conduct of business in parliament and so on. Some have gone that far to say that the entire 85 minutes address was an extrapolation of his “Mann Ki Baat” [a few have branded this as an exercise in self-adulation].
These are perceptions of all those who for decades have got used to stereotyped addresses from prime ministers who technically though represent the people of India but in their dispositions behave like aliens, showing no signs of connect whatsoever with the latter. Even declaration of grandiose welfare schemes meant for poor [invariably, every speech would have this] used to get camouflaged in jargon going over the head for majority of them.
In this backdrop, when a prime minister like Modi who has emerged from among the poor, who believes in self-detachment and is fully committed to the welfare of 1.25 billion Indians and connects with all of them even while delivering his speech from ramparts of historic Red Fort, it is but natural that those very persons would find his speech lacklustre [as they have not got what they look for]. So, did Modi make an impact?
The answer is clearly in the affirmative if only we view his address in the very specific context of what independence signifies. At the outset, it should be abundantly clear that even close to seven decades after we were un-shackled from British raj, majority of the Indian citizens are no where near economic independence that the founding fathers of this great country [with Mahatma Gandhi in the lead] had aspired for.
Any one unwilling to accept this harsh reality should note that under the National Food Security Act [NFSA] – a law passed as recently as 2013 – the government granted as a matter of fundamental right access to food to two-third of India’s population [around 830 million] [75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas] at Rs 1/2/3 per kg for coarse cereals, wheat and rice at prices which are close to zero. Had people become economically independent, would there have been any need to enact such a law?
For Modi, this is a totally unacceptable scenario. His sole obsession is to make millions of poor in this country economically independent. He wants do it by empowering them and making them partners in the development process. He has a road map for this and robust action plan. He revealed all this in his very first Independence Day address last year and now, has given a report card on what government has done and what it has achieved.
PM Jan Dhan Yojna – epicenter of financial inclusion
The epicenter of his inclusive plan is PM Jan Dhan Yojna [PMJDY]. Modi launched the scheme on August 28, 2014 [in less than a fortnight of its announcement on August 15] with a target of opening 75 million accounts by January 26, 2015 to be raised to 150 million in the second phase. Under it, a person can open account with ‘zero’ balance and is entitled to a RuPay debit card, an overdraft facility of Rs 5000/- and accident insurance cover of Rs 100,000/- [persons opening account before January, 2015 also get life cover for Rs 30,000/-].
Now, he has informed the nation about splendid achievement under PMJDY. Over 170 million accounts have been opened and people have deposited a mammoth around Rs 20,000 crores. From a pathetic situation only about an year ago when nearly 40% or 500 million people had no account, today almost the entire population has a bank account. This was made possible by galvanizing hundreds of thousands of bank employees and making them work day and night to reach the goal.
The benefits of this stupendous financial inclusion project go much beyond enjoying an overdraft facility and insurance cover. It will act as a bull work for economic empowerment of the people. They will not only be able to put their savings [earlier squandered away due to absence of banking facility] to productive use, but will also be able to avail of support from government under welfare schemes in full without any leakage.
Modi – dispensation has already started using this platform for reaching LPG subsidy directly to beneficiaries. In the process, government will be saving Rs 15,000 crores annually by eliminating misuse/leakages which under erstwhile arrangements was being cornered by dubious traders. Prime minister referred to this as also the tumultuous response to “Give – Up” campaign [2 million persons have already surrendered] so that poor can benefit.
‘Social Safety’ net for the poor
In a first ever, this government has provided a ‘social safety’ net to majority of poor and vulnerable sections of the society. Thus, by contributing just Rs 1 per month, a person gets an accident insurance cover of Rs 200,000/- under PM Suraksha Bima Yojna [PMSBY]. Likewise, under PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna [PMJJBY], by contributing a mere 0.9 Rupee per day, a person gets life cover for Rs 200,000/-. Modi informed that over 100 million persons had already taken cover under these two schemes.
“Start-up India; Stand-up India” initiative
Taking his financial inclusion agenda forward, Modi launched the “Start-up India; Stand-up India” initiative. Under it, he goaded bank managements to ask each of their 125,000 branches to encourage at least one Dalit or adivasi entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur by providing loan and guidance. Apart from acting as a springboard to economically uplift these backward communities, this would also have multiplier effect on employment giving jobs to hundreds of thousands of unemployed youth.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan [SBA], in his last year’s Independence Day speech, Modi had promised to construct toilets in all the 262,000 schools in the country. On August 15 this year, he informed the nation that around 425,000 toilets have been constructed thus redeeming his pledge for ensuring good hygiene conditions in schools and even more importantly, protecting dignity of the girl child and ensuring her safety.
Electricity to 18,500 villages within 1000 days
Modi promised supply of electricity to 18,500 villages within 1000 days. Most of these villages happen to be remote locations and taking transmission lines faces tough terrains. Citing these imponderables, bureaucrats and technical experts felt delivering on this promise could take much longer up to 10 years. He retorted “people living in these villages cannot wait that long” and told them to complete the task in less than 3 years.
FRONTAL ATTACK ON CORRUPTION
Corruption is the biggest enemy of development and the poor. On August 15, 2014, he had pledged to make a frontal attack on this malaise. Now, he stated proudly that during last 15 months, there has not been a single case of corruption. This has been made possible by cleaning up systems, simplifying procedures, eliminating role of discretion, making governance policy driven and bringing in transparency in decision making.
Referring to coal scam under erstwhile UPA-dispensation, Modi quipped initially even he was not so sure about the loss of over Rs 180,000 crores estimated by CAG. But, results of a transparent auction conducted by present government garnering a mammoth Rs 300,000 crores have vindicated CAG. It has also demonstrated huge benefits of a clean and policy driven governance which is further buttressed by gains of another Rs 100,000 crores from auction of spectrum [under UPA, this too was afflicted by scam] .
Citing more instances of how corruption had taken deep roots like termite damaging every section of wooden furniture, Modi informed that 20-30% of subsidized urea was getting diverted to chemical factories [this works out to a loss of over Rs 10,000 crores annually]. His government has stemmed this menace by making ‘neem coating’ mandatory – as urea coated with neam is unfit for use in any chemical plant. At the same time, farmer benefits from increase in use efficiency.
He also referred to yet another dubious practice followed for long whereby, imported coal was being transported over long distance to hinterland and at the same time, indigenous coal was moved to coastal locations entailing avoidable cost and stress on infrastructure. As a result, while contractors/traders merrily made huge gains, the country lost thousands of crores. The government has corrected this anomaly by directing that imported coal will only be used by plants located in coastal areas.
In the war against corruption, Modi referred to the Black Money [Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets] and Imposition of Tax Act [2015] which has stringent penalties including jail for up to 10 years. He was under pressure to relax but the government shall not relent notwithstanding the “side-effects”. Under a small window of relief for those who declare now, it has already got around Rs 6500 crores but a big gain is that henceforth, no one will dare take money out of India without paying tax.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna
Prime Minister assured that farmers’ welfare was on top of his agenda. That is why Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna [PMKSY] was launched with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crores. With the same objective in mind, the agriculture ministry has been rechristened as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare [MoAFW]. He informed that government was working relentlessly for building a house for every family and giving electricity connection by 2022.
Team India on track towards complete “SWARAJ”
In a nut-shell, Modi has delivered in his address what 1.25 billion people of India were looking for. He has reinforced their confidence that the government is very much on track and forging ahead at the right speed to take them to their destiny of complete “SWARAJ”.