Yes
folks, the electorate has won and brought to power an outsider in New Delhi
with such a scintillating majority. Mr Narendra Modi, touted as the messiah and
the Mr fix-it has been hailed as the winner of the 16th Lok Sabha
elections. After three decades, has a non-Congress party come to power with
absolute majority. The prime reason for this victory of BJP is Mr Narendra
Modi’s success story in the form of Gujarat development model; and also the
anti incumbency of the Congress. The BJP has committed itself to good
governance and development through it’s manifesto. So here in this piece, let’s
analyse the things being expected from NaMo and his government.
India
Inc. has hailed Modi’s victory and the markets have been bullish about his win
as shown by the record-breaking rallies. Modi is expected to bring into action
the innovative ideas he talked about in his campaign and the ones he showcased
in Gujarat. Shoring up growth rates in the Indian economy is the biggest task
ahead of him. And for that, building the investor confidence is of the essence.
This would translate into the need for a consistent policy; i.e. the mistakes
of the previous government like the retributive tax laws as seen in the
Vodafone case and the drastic changes in the tax incentives given to the SEZs
needs to be avoided in all circumstances. In order to bring more investment in the
economy, the previous investments already done in the economy need to lift off,
i.e. the gestation periods need to reduce. This can be done only by enhancing
single window clearance mechanisms, cutting the red-tape, and finally, bringing
more transparency and accountability. Everybody craves to see the India in
which we know where a certain file is going and where it has been stalled. In
that way, we won’t anymore have certain Environment ministers sitting on
hundreds of files, stymieing the development of the country. Creating a uniform market all over the country
is also a step ahead in unleashing the potential of all regions and harnessing
growth in all sectors. Passing reforms like goods and services tax in the
parliament can do so. And I say so because now there is so much majority in the
LS that reforms won’t be as tough to come by. And I say that this should be done
in the honeymoon period of the first 10 months itself. Let’s look forward to
the upcoming budgets for it.
We
need to also see more of Made in India tags around the world and for that, the
manufacturing sector should to be given a boost like never before. The small
and medium sector enterprises need to be given a conducive environment to unbridle
their potential and spread their wings so that the hub and spoke model of
development can play out as the ancillary industries also get the required
boost. Not just this, labor laws need reformation too, and that too, ASAP! For
the Index for Industrial Production (IIP) to show the rise, the core sectors
need to be paid special attention so that there is more of growth and
employment generation.
Not
enough can be said about the need to develop infrastructure for faster growth
of the country. Certainly, we do need all-weather roads, freight corridors,
rapid railways, power supply, banking services et cetra. While the manifesto
talks about most of these issues, the proof of the pudding shall be in the
eating. So, let’s wait and watch how things happen this time around. And while
I’m talking of infrastructure still, I shouldn’t leave the human capital. Skill
devt is the key factor in reaping our demographic dividend, i.e. to make sure
that the citizens actively contribute in India’s devt and stand to gain from
it. Let me just lay down the simple cycle of all the good things that may
happen- when the people are skilled and the business climate is favourable, more
money is pumped into various sectors of the economy which creates jobs and
people get salaries. This increases consumption and the purchasing power of the
people, which in turn further creates more incentives for the companies to
produce and make more investment.
One
issue, which specifically bothers me, is the stature of India in the world. We
have seen the times when Mr. Bush was fighting the world to get India the
nuclear deal and when Mr. Obama was saying aggressively everywhere that India
deserves the seat in the UNSC but suddenly India is not talked about so much
now. I see the main reason for this as the downturn in the growth trajectory of
India. We are no more at or even in the vicinity of the 9% growth rate and we
are just a 2 trillion dollar economy, which is literally nothing in front of
the $9tn China and $16tn America. So, while some years ago there was the notion
of Chindia and BRICS, the idea is dead now. To arrive back on the platform,
economic revival is of utmost importance. Also important is building regional
cooperation with our neighbouring countries. Till the time they are not made
co-partners in our growth, the rise of India seems rather bleak. Thus, the
foreign policy amendments to be taken by the govt need to be seen with eagle
eyes.
A catchy
thing in the manifesto was the growth of 100 smart cities. While the schemes
like MGNREGS are meant to keep people in the rural areas and to keep them from
coming in the cities, the hard fact is that development happens not by
ruralization, but by urbanisation. We urgently and desperately need these
cities for the cycle of events I mentioned in the previous paras. But this
doesn’t mean that I don’t look forward to Rurbanization, that is also another
key point of the manifesto i.e. to provide the urban amenities in the rural
areas so as to develop them too. All these promises done by NaMo fill me with
optimism and I shall track them closely.
NaMo
would be the first Prime Minister who has been the Chief Minister with a
successful tenure of 12 years. He has had no parallel yet. This gives me a ray
of hope that Centre- State friction would reduce because he has been on the
other side of the table. His understanding of such issues would be first-hand
and would come handy. Whether it be the resounding question of having or not
having the National Counter Terrorism Centre; or putting the onus of Central
Schemes partly on the states; his proposed idea of PM-CM association would be
of real benefit to our maturing federalism.
As I
write today, he has already given his 67 point agenda to tackle inflation by
addressing the supply side bottlenecks. But despite of all the positives, I
would like to stay cautiously optimistic because it still remains for us to see
what stand he takes on subsidies, reservations, fiscal situation etc. But let
us give them enough time to show sustainable results and not expect our messiah
to mend every pot hole on the road and electrify every rural village in a
jiffy. Nevertheless, I’m elated to say that after so many years of dynastic
rule in our country, the Indian Spring is finally here.
