Has Two Years Of Modi Government Satisified Indians? – OpEd

It appears that more than the people of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, his ministers and party are celebrating the two years of a Modi-led government.

Mr. Modi and his ministers are now participating in meetings, discussions in various forums and are attending interviews in several media, to explain to the people as to what they have done and what they propose to do in the next three years.

People keep fingers crossed

While it is a fact that common men are viewing the Modi government with mixed feelings and with hopes that Mr. Modi would deliver the promises that he has made, the fact is that they are keeping their fingers crossed.

Discerning observers do understand that Mr. Modi cannot deliver the promises in a short span of two years , as there are several impediments on his way. But, this is not the case with vast section of country men.

Impact of positive governance yet to be felt

While it is true that several much needed and innovative projects have been launched and Mr. Modi has been working hard to streamline the governance, the ground reality is that the common men consisting of people belonging to lower and middle income group who constitute more than 70% of Indian population, have not yet felt the impact of positive governance. Possibly, Mr. Modi is aware of this and this is why he is taking extra pains to tell the country men as to what he has done, as the country men still largely remain without being benefited by several of the schemes that he has initiated.

Many state governments yet to improve efficiency

Mr. Modi has a notoriously inefficient and somewhat corrupt government machinery at his disposal , with politically affiliated trade unions and some opposition political parties blocking the implementation of several measures that are needed to tone up the administration.

While Mr. Modi is the Prime Minister of India heading the central government , there are many state governments in the country which are under the leadership of politicians who may not be as dedicated as Mr.Modi and may not have the type of capability and commitment with which Mr. Modi works. Several of the schemes of Mr.Modi government has to be implemented through the state government machinery.
State governments are the critical link for Mr.Modi to take his projects to the people. For example, the much publicized clean India campaign programme is not taking off mainly due to the fact that hundreds of municipalities, panchayats and municipal corporations in the country , which are responsible for civic administration continue to remain inefficient, corruption ridden and with narrow political vested interests. They are not under the control of Modi government but only under the control of state governments.

While Mr. Modi government has allotted millions of rupees for clean India programme, the streets and pavements continue to remain dirty with overflowing garbage.

Two promises still far away

Two important promises that Mr. Modi made to the people are that he would root out corruption and bring down the prices of essential commodities. Both these promises have not been met, which has caused considerable unhappiness amongst the people belonging to middle and lower income group.

As a matter of fact, the problem of corruption and price rise are inter linked. The high level of corruption has resulted in circulation of huge amount of black money in the country and tax evasion, which has pushed up the real estate prices and hoarding of goods and commodities.

Common man finds it extremely difficult to understand as to why Mr. Modi is unable to root out corruption. Many people suspect that he is not striving enough to arrest the corrupt persons and bring out the black money ,which would inevitably give huge satisfaction to the common man.

The recent “escape” of Vijay Mallya, who is accused of corrupt practices, from the country has shaken the confidence of the people that Mr. Modi would be capable of putting down corruption.

As Mr. Modi completes two years in office, he has to realise that unless he would mercilessly root out the corrupt conditions in the country, people would not be convinced about the merit of his governance, even if he would take several innovative measures to implement highly appropriate projects .

Some people even suspect whether Modi is not as hard as he should be on punishing corrupt persons, since his political party needs funds from them to maintain the tempo of it’s political campaign.

Democles sword

The problem of corruption in India is now a democles sword hanging on Modi government.