Modi government has done some commendable work on fronts like universal healthcare, women empowerment, sanitation, clean energy, poverty alleviation, digital infrastructure, promoting a start-up culture, etc.
The BJP government introduced many innovative schemes in its tenure, that took a unique approach to tackling multiple challenges faced by the country. Most importantly, the implementation of all these initiatives had a people-centric approach, thus ensuring that citizens of Bharat themselves become agents of change in their communities. A top-down approach to development doesn’t work. It’s important to have a participatory framework wherein citizen-led development is given prominence. Many initiatives of the Modi government reflect this participatory approach.
As the country heads towards general elections, let’s take a look at some of the major initiatives of the Modi government during both its terms:
- Make in India & Start-Up India
Promoting entrepreneurship amongst all sections of society has been a major thrust of the Modi government.
The kind of phenomenal focus that one has seen on boosting the start-up ecosystem during the time of the Modi government, was perhaps unimaginable during the time of Congress rule.
Make in India and Start-Up India are one of the two most ambitious schemes of the Modi government. Make in India was launched in 2014. It was the BJP government’s flagship initiative to foster innovation, facilitate investment, build state-of-the-art infrastructure, and make Bharat a hub for design, manufacturing, and innovation. Under this scheme, Bharat consistently received record FDI inflows.
Most importantly, the whole perception of doing business in Bharat changed with Make in India. It involved a complete overhaul of outdated processes and systems; Bharat also streamlined the complex system of obtaining multiple permits and approvals to make it more convenient for global businesses to set up a manufacturing base in Bharat.
Make in India opened up sectors like defence manufacturing, single-brand retail, railways, etc. to FDI. The government also set up an Investor Facilitation Cell (IFC ) to assist investors in seeking regulatory approvals, and hand-holding services through the pre-investment phase, execution, and after-care support.
The Make in India initiative of the Modi government has a dedicated website that provides detailed information on the initiative.
Startup India was launched by the government in 2016. It was the first-of-its-kind scheme focussing on boosting innovation and the startup culture through various incentives for Bharat’s entrepreneur base.
The scheme provides funding support to entrepreneurs at various levels with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crores. It gives entrepreneurs various other incentives such as a credit guarantee fund for startups, tax exemption on capital gains invested in Fund of Funds, and tax exemption to startups for 3 years.
One of the most important features of Startup India has been fostering a conducive environment for the promotion of startup culture in Bharat. To accomplish this, the government has laid out a roadmap for boosting industry-academia partnerships and incubation. The organization of large- scale innovation fests, the launch of the Atal Innovation Mission ( AIM ) , the setting up of 7 new research parks modelled on the Research Park at IIT Madras, the launching of innovation-focused programs for students, and harnessing private sector expertise for setting up incubators are some of the major highlights of Startup India.
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
Gender inclusiveness and women empowerment have been the hallmarks of BJP’s model of governance.
Modi government launched many schemes focusing on the specific problems of women. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana ( providing free gas cylinders to women from economically backward strata of society ), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana ( financial empowerment scheme for girl child ), Mahila Samman Savings Certificate ( a financial empowerment scheme for women ), etc.
The most ambitious woman-centric scheme of the Modi government is the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save the Girl Child, Educate the Girl Child ) initiative. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is a holistic scheme aiming for the empowerment of the girl child at multiple levels. Its composite framework addresses issues such as maternal mortality, female foeticide, improving female health, building secure communities for women, focusing on education of the girl child, and paving the way for an overall gender-inclusive society.
Thus, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao creates a multi-tier ecosystem for the social, economic, educational, and cultural empowerment of women. The model is such that local women leaders are promoted at every step and women from within the community become agents of change. Thus, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is a prime example of the community-centric development model adopted by the Modi government rather than the top-down approach.
Modi government introduced the programme to address the issue of decline in the child sex ratio in 100 gender-critical districts. Thus, the scheme has two major components – an ambitious mass communication campaign focusing on gender sensitization and multisectoral intervention in 100 gender-critical districts covering all states and union territories.
- Sustainable Development – Satat Bharat – Sanatan Bharat
Under the leadership of PM Modi, Bharat has made phenomenal strides in fostering sustainable development.
Bharat has played a pivotal role in leading the world in the global fight against climate change. Under this programme, Bharat’s climate action strategies focus on developing and sustaining clean and efficient energy systems, planned eco-restoration, and disaster-resilient infrastructure. Niti Aayog has a dedicated department for monitoring the country’s progress on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and our participation in different global mechanisms.
Under its Satat Bharat – Sanatan Bharat initiative, Bharat has made multiple advances. We have electrified 100 percent of our villages, reduced 38 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by adopting the use of energy- efficient appliances, provided clean cooking fuel to 80 million poor households, and set a target to install 450 GW of renewable energy and reduce 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
Bharat has made phenomenal strides in the renewable energy sector since the Modi government came to power. We stand 4th globally in Renewable Energy Installed Capacity, 4th in Wind Power capacity and 4th in Solar Power capacity. Also, Bharat’s non-fossil fuel capacity has increased 396 percent in the last 8.5 years and stands at more than 190.97 GW, about 44 percent of the country’s total capacity. As per various estimates, Bharat witnessed the highest year-on-year growth in renewable energy additions of 9.83 percent in 2022.
- Swachh Bharat Mission
Launched by the Modi government in 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission is one of the most widely known initiatives of Modi government.
The Swachh Bharat Mission with its visuals of the Prime Minister of the country himself participating in cleanliness drives made sanitation a part of the nation’s social consciousness. It not only successfully eradicated the issue of open defecation in Bharat but became a pivotal point of mass mobilization for improving sanitation and cleanliness conditions across the country.
Under this initiative, over 100 million household toilets were constructed benefitting 500 million people across 6, 30, 000 villages of Bharat. Furthermore, according to UN statistics, households in open defecation- free villages saved up to Rs 50,000 every year, and total benefits exceeded costs by 4.7 times for them.
With the successful completion of the first phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Phase II was launched in February 2020. The second phase of the scheme focuses on sustaining the ODF status of the concerned villages and concentrates on upgrading these villages from ODF to ODT plus by focusing on their Solid and Liquid Waste Management.
- PM GatiShakti
One of the greatest achievements of the Modi government has been infrastructural development. The smallest of towns of Bharat is now equipped with world class airports, railway stations have been upgraded and modernized to a great extent, and far-flung areas and interiors of Bharat have been now connected to the mainstream.
The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan was launched in October 2021 to provide multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various economic zones. A transformative approach for economic growth. PM GatiShakti aims to combine the objectives of achieving economic growth and sustainable development by following a multi-pronged approach. Through this scheme, the government’s focus is on making sectors like railways, roads, ports, airports, waterways, mass transport, and logistics infrastructure engines of growth.
These seven engines of growth are supported by the complementary roles of IT communication, energy transmission, bulk water and sewerage, and social infrastructure. The use of modern technology is integrated in every step of the development of these seven engines of growth under the GatiShakti framework.
- Digital India
The Digital India campaign is one of the most ambitious initiatives of the Modi government. It was launched in 2015 to make government services accessible to citizens electronically, thus making the delivery of government services more efficient. This was achieved by enhancing internet connectivity and improving online infrastructure.
Anybody can vouch for the fact that digital connectivity in Bharat has improved at a skyrocketing speed over the past decade. Easy and cheap access to internet connectivity and smartphones has brought even the most hitherto marginalized and disadvantaged citizens within close reach of various digital services.
Over the years, Digital India has fulfilled many of its objectives that include availability of high-speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens, mobile phone and bank account enabling citizen participation in digital and financial space, making financial transactions cashless and electronic, seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions, digitally transformed services for ease of doing business, etc.
The large-scale implementation of the Digital India campaign has radically transformed the way citizens go about their day-to-day business and the government departments and private businesses function. Many industries have almost done away with paperwork systems, others are on the verge of transformation. Most government records can be now accessed electronically. Government departments now have their own apps to make services available to citizens in real time. Thus, overall efficiency has improved manifold when it comes to governance. Although one might have difference of opinion regarding Bharat’s overdependence on big tech companies for fulfilment of Digital India’s objective, no one can deny that the swift implementation of the Digital India campaign has improved governance and delivery of services to common citizens by leaps and bounds.
