Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has a huge fan following in India and abroad. After Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it is Modi who seemingly has the power to attract even the youth.
Modi has always talked about what needs to be done and how to be done, to solve the problems of the country rather than criticising things which have not been done, which seems to have become a trademark in Indian politics. Whether it was the various dreams he had for India’s development before the Lok Sabha elections, the conviction with which he promised people that they would develop India together, or the speedy implementation of various schemes and projects that he has introduced since he became the PM – Modi is stark clear in his vision .
Picking up the root cause of a problem and then uprooting it completely has been his core funda in addressing the major problems of the country.
In his first Independence Day speech in 2014, he raised eyes by becoming the first PM to give a speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, without a note.
In the first three months after becoming the PM, Modi started working rigorously towards developing small and ignored sectors, while also focusing on the minute determinants of a successful welfare scheme In his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014, he said that he had announced seven large scale projects that he would aim to complete before the next elections. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana , an ambitious project to avail bank accounts for each citizen of the country, was like sowing a seed for the germination of the larger result – demonetisation. To scale the heights, he worked in a proper fashion from beneath, to ensure that each citizen of the country receives the result of the plans which the government proposed to execute.
By announcing projects like Skill India and Make In India in 2014, and then referring to them again in future speeches, Modi is trying hard to make our country self-sufficient and progressive – by devising means to increase production and kick-starting holistic productions on our own soil, thereby providing thousands of new emplyment opportunities for the masses.
Corruption, a deadly termite, had eaten deep into the country’s economy. Getting rid of it was therefore, of the utmost importance. This was well understood – and the Modi’s schemes have been formulated on the lines of addressing this, from the very beginning.
While he provided opportunities for creating bank accounts for every individual, he also made the Aadhaar card mandatory and also made it compulsory for all citizens to link it with almost every important document one possesses. This was done in order to completely remove the menace of middlemen. In the near future, the Aadhaar card is likely to become the complete identity of an individual.
The various schemes reflect the main motto of our PM – uplifting the poor of the country and giving them equal opportunities to rise and progress.
While nearly all of his programs are directed towards every one in the nation, they are also focused on reaching the last person in the hierarchy and eliminating all middlemen that may hinder that path.
He aims at removing corruption – and all of his schemes are indirectly, in an obscure manner, directed towards eliminating corruption and reaching the last person.
To set the stage for the bigger blow to corruption (demonetisation), the rehearsals had already began from the first year. First was the Jan Dhan Yojana , a scheme meant to ensure that everybody had a bank account to deposit their money in. The second was the e-governance and the Digital India initiative which aimed at facilitating citizens to adapt to electronic means, so that the government could lay down the plan of a ‘cash-less economy’ during demonetisation.
Analytical planning had already been done when it was decided that the Aadhaar was (and is still) to be linked to other important identification proofs of individuals. Along with this, an innovative scheme of income declaration was announced to give a last chance to the people to spew out all unaccounted wealth and black money.
The fact that corruption was deep-rooted and important enough to be shown the door was accepted – and the schemes and activities were all made to remove the middlemen and directly benefit the consumers and the poor. I think the concept of reaching out to the last person was in the works for a long time. To ensure that the deserving people got their due, a provision to link LPG subsidies directly to the bank accounts of the recipients was made. Similarly, all welfare scheme benefits (including the pension schemes), which were earlier distributed in a scattered manner, would directly be delivered into individual accounts now .
The focal point of the government has always been to give a hand to the poor of the country and to reduce the poverty – by bringing various schemes in small steps that would help them rearrange their lives again.
Demonetisation was also one in the same line – but it was something which had a large scale, a large impact and a larger significance. In a way, it was choreographed to ultimately help the poor – to fish out all the black money and then distribute it into everyone’s coffers equally.
If we take a panoramic view of all the projects and schemes of the Narendra Modi government, we will come to realise that it has two concrete aims – to remove corruption and to reach the last person of the hierarchy. And from a commoner’s point of view, he is walking steadily ahead in his intended direction.
Nobody knows whether he will be elected for a second term or not – and in light of the repercussions of demonetisation, the debate is still on. But one thing is quite clear – a PM like Modi is someone who is here to stay and will be remembered for a long time in Indian politics.