Saaf Niti, Sahi Vikas

Many experts in politics expected a hung parliament in 2019. However, the people of India judged the Prime Minister on his government’s five years performance from 2014-19.

“The left kept telling us about the social problems; they kept talking but did nothing. We are the ones who delivered”, said Narendra Modi in his thanking speech at the BJP headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road in Delhi on 23^rd May 2019.

In the last five years, Modi government not only revised passed growth to show a better GDP performance but also kept control on deficits, subsidies, debt, inflation and prices. No matter what the journalists talk about, but the reality at ground has seen a change. Some of the top schemes which the Narendra Modi’s government implemented has helped them connect with masses. 

Let’s have a look how Narendra Modi’s report card read in the last 5 years through some of the schemes that he launched

1. Ayushman Bharat: The health insurance scheme launched on September 23, 2018, has already benefited 10 lakh poor patients and was one of the key game-changer on 2019 Lok Sabha elections. More than 500 million Indians who could not afford medical treatment for non-communicable illnesses like cancer and heart disease now have access to free healthcare.
   
2. Rural electrification: The Modi government’s push to provide last-mile connectivity to hard-to-access rural clusters has been fairly successful. However, several villages cited as connected to the electrical grid still have households without power. Part of the problem is that some villages lie in areas controlled by Naxalites in states such as Chattisgarh and Jharkhand while in others the terrain makes access difficult.
   
3. Free LPG cylinders: Under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, women in villages now have access to cooking gas. This has both health and economic benefits. Over 60 million free LPG connections have been given with nearly 50 per cent going to SC/ST households.
   
4. Sanitation: The Swachh Bharat Mission has built toilets at an unprecedented pace. Since October 2014, over 92 million toilets have been constructed, covering nearly 500 million households in one of the world’s largest operations of its kind. Cultural habits, however, mean that open-air defecation remains endemic. Many newly-built toilets lack sewage facilities; others are being used as storage rooms. Nonetheless, a beginning has been made.
   
5. Digital transfer of subsidies: This has cut out most (though not all) middlemen who routinely siphoned off large chunks of benefits due to the poor. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, had famously said in December 1985, while addressing the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Congress, that only 15 paise out of every rupee in subsidies reaches the poor. With digitised transfers that figure has probably risen to 75 paise. However, lack of Internet connectivity in rural areas, combined with limited digital literacy among farmers and labourers, often leave them at the mercy of local officials to access their money electronically.
   
6. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code: The legislation, enacted in December 2016, is the silver bullet to tackle India’s chronic problem of non-performing assets. Banks have begun to recover debts that had seemingly turned irretrievably bad.
   
7. Infrastructure development: There has been a steep rise in building roads, highways and metro networks as well as housing for the poor. These are long-term initiatives but the benefits are already visible. According to fact-checking sites, 12km of highways were constructed in 2013-14. This pace more than doubled to 27km per day in 2017-18.

The current prime minister has achieved more than any of his predecessor in the history of India. First time the young generation in India looked up at the political leadership with respect and felt a nationalist fervor. This has not happened for decades. The image of a politician up till now was that of a goon with loads of black money who is able to secure a seat and out to loot the people. But the current government has been able to change that impression.