Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government will be completing one year of its second term in the office on May 30.
Modi 2.0, which secured its second term after a massive mandate in 2019, unleashed a slew of policies in its attempt to deliver on the promises made in its manifesto, and otherwise.
Within days of taking office, the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was altered, triple talaq was made into a law, Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,2016 was passed and made into an Act - Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, which grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from three neighbouring countries, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was amended and the Right to Information Act (RTI) was diluted. The economy also witnessed a downward trend despite promises to make it the third-largest economy in the world.
Some of its decisions triggered massive protests across the country which continued until the coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed.
Here’s a look at some of the major promises made and decisions taken by the Modi government in its second stint and their status and impact.
Article 370:
On August 5, the central government abrogated Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and divided the state into two Union Territories — Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, while imposing a clampdown.
The BJP had earlier in its 'Sankalp Patra' promised to annul the controversial clause - a long pending demand of the RSS.
Doubling farmer income by 2022:
One of the BJP’s key promises was doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022.
In 2016, the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development released a report on how this could be done. The Niti Aayog followed up with its own report in 2017. Yet, in real terms, farm income growth in the October to December 2018 quarter was at its lowest in 14 years, The Indian Express had reported in March.
However, under PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) over 8.52 crore farmers have received an aggregate ₹62,469 crore in its first instalment, as per the government.
India as the world’s third-largest economy
Declaring its aim to make India the third-largest economy in the world by 2030, the BJP promised to promote investment-driven growth to build a "New India" and make it a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and $10 trillion economy by 2032.
However, the International Monetary Fund slashed its estimate on India’s 2019 economic growth to 4.8% from the 6.1% expansion it projected in October, citing a sharper-than-expected slowdown in local demand and stress in the non-bank financial sector.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
The government Centre introduced the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, which was approved by the Parliament in 2019.
The amended Act confers power upon the central government to designate an individual as a terrorist and seize their property. It also provides for putting travel ban on such individuals once they are declared as terrorists.
The opposition had called the amendment draconian.
Triple talaq
Passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, criminalising instant talaq or divorce, had been one of the main planks of the BJP.
BJP has consistently opposed triple talaq and other controversial features of Muslim personal law, including polygamy, on the ground that they were in conflict with the law of the land and as part of its larger pitch for Uniform Civil Code.
Ram temple
Reiterating its stand on Ram Mandir, the BJP in its manifesto promised to explore all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution to facilitate the expeditious construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya came as a boost, particularly with the onus to form a trust that will oversee the construction of the temple lying on his government.
RTI Act amended
The controversial Right to Information (Amendment) Bill to amend the landmark transparency law, the Right to Information Act, was passed by the Parliament amid opposition allegations that it was being diluted.
The opposition dubbed the bill "RTI Elimination Bill".
The Bill involved changes in the salaries and tenures of Information Commissioners at the states and centre.
Jal Jeevan Mission
Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019 aims at providing tap water to all rural households in the country by 2024.
The scheme is being implemented across the country with some glitches being reported from certain state’s.
Women empowerment
Of the total Rs 201.21 crore allocated to the Ministry of Women and Child Development for schemes funded from the Nirbhaya Fund, not a single penny was spent till 24 December 2019, official data showed, The Indian Express reported. And this hasn’t been an isolated case.
For Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Abhiyan, which is one of the better-known schemes of the BJP government, the results were found to be similar with Rs 43.94 crore out of the total allocated amount of Rs 280 crore spent to date. This is just a little over 15% of the total allocated amount.
Other women protection and empowerment schemes were also allotted about Rs 1,330 crore, only Rs 204.77 crore was spent of this amount; a meagre 15.29% of the allocation, the national daily reported.
Schemes such as Mahila Shakti Kendra and Ujjwala also remained underperformers. The former had an allocation of Rs 150 crore and only Rs 8.75 crore was spent. On the other hand, Ujjwala scheme had an allocation of Rs 30 crore and out of this, only Rs 8.58 crore was spent.
Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas (Inclusive Development):
- Van Dhan Vikas Yojana
Van Dhan Yojana' (VDY) is a tribal-specific development scheme that seeks to address a gap in the inclusive development scheme. A total of 799 Van Dhan Vikas Kendras have been opened in 24 states since the launch of Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana.
- EWS
The Centre has sanctioned an additional amount of Rs 4,315.15 crore for implementation of the 10% quota for the economically weak among the general category across 158 centrally funded higher education institutions (HEIs).
- Housing for poor
According to Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Residential Asset Price Monitoring Survey of 2019, housing affordability had worsened over the last four years as house price-income ratio increased to 61.5 in March 2019 from 56.1 in March 2015.
The Union government’s policies largely encourage households to take home loans to buy unsold inventory by providing interest subvention under PMAY's ‘Credit-linked Subsidy System’ and by giving income tax exemption on housing loans. However, the policy has exposed low-income house buyers to the volatility of financial markets over the years.
- Empowering Transgender
The Union Cabinet approved a Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 in July 2019 which provides a mechanism for social, economic and educational empowerment of transgenders by defining their identity and rights to prohibit discrimination against them.
