In The Media ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

Read full article Transformational reforms had acquired great momentum, when in 2004 Lok Sabha elections the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee unexpectedly lost mandate. Under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which came to the helm, reforms came to a sudden stop. Then, during its second term, the UPA introduced several anti-growth policies reminiscent of the Indira Gandhi era. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to office in 2014, India saw a return to reforms with three important and politically difficult reforms introduced: Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Goods and Services Tax, and Direct Benefit Transfers. Infrastructure building received a boost as well. That helped the economy shift to the average annual growth rate of 7.5% during the past five years from 5.9% during the last two years of UPA. India has now returned Modi with the same overwhelming mandate it gave him in 2014. Encumbered by wishful thinking, media pundits had used caste, religion and region-based calculations to predict a fractured mandate, even a hung Parliament this time around. But Indians thought differently: discarding all these considerations, they put…

What the second Narendra Modi government can do is to put in place employment-friendly policies.Read full article The Narendra Modi government has won a resounding mandate. This soundly puts him and his administration in a position to seriously confront a problem that confronts India. Today, a disproportionately large part of India’s workforce consists of farmers with holdings of less than a hectare, self-employed, and those employed in low-productivity activities in farming or micro enterprises in industry and services. This vast workforce earns near-subsistence level of income or wages. Creation of well-paid jobs for this vast workforce is nearly synonymous with transforming India into a modern economy. As such, no one should make light of the challenge this task poses. Accomplishing it requires interconnected reforms in virtually all areas of the economy.

Read full article On the recommendation of a NITI Aayog Committee, on which the authors were privileged to serve (as chair and as a member), the human resource development (HRD) ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) initiated an important reform in higher education in February 2018. Under the reform, colleges receiving scores of 3.51 or higher on a scale of 0 to 4 from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), or accredited by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) in three or more programmes with scores of 750 or more in each programme, automatically become eligible for autonomy. The reform also opens the door to autonomy to somewhat lesser performing colleges. But the procedure for it is more elaborate rather than automatic. The experience with the implementation of autonomy, to date, offers an interesting window to the difficulty of reform within the command and control system with multiple power centres that has remained undisturbed in higher education. Without determination and persistence on the part of actors and entities piloting reforms, odds are in favour of the survival of status…

Read full article Abstract: I had the opportunity, in a conversation several months prior to 2014 elections, to discuss with the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, the future course of economic and social policy. When it came to the health sector, I urged him to pay special attention to public health as prime minister. I reasoned that over the decades the government had gone deeply into the provision of medical services, which even private sector provided. At the same time, it had neglected public health, which only it can provide. The result, for instance, had been that drainage systems in our cities had become so badly clogged that even moderate rains resulted in stagnant water bodies that then served as breeding grounds for vector-borne diseases. I went on to add that the old tradition of parents inculcating in children the habit of washing hands first thing after entering home and before every meal had also been dying. As prime minister, through television broadcasts and other media, Modi could exhort parents to return to inculcating good personal hygiene habits…

Read full article I have maintained, since well before the Balakot airstrikes, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will repeat his 2014 election victory in 2019. This conviction is rooted in many factors. The first factor is Modi himself. No matter what some Delhi-centric journalists and intellectuals might say, he remains personally intensely popular with people. Through regular radio broadcasts, social media interactions, and personal appearances at hundreds of functions and rallies each year, he has successfully conveyed to the average Indian that he is sincere, hardworking and decisive. Many may have specific complaints about unfulfilled promises. But few doubt his unwavering commitment to the nation and its people. The second factor is Modi’s enormous energy and ability to communicate with the masses. These attributes make him one of the most effective election campaigners in India’s post-Independence history. During the 2014 campaign, he crisscrossed 3,00,000 km to address hundreds of rallies in person. Five years later, his energy is undiminished. With 150 rallies already planned and more in the works, he is poised to convert the election into a presidential-style contest…