Three Years of the Modi Government- Are we on track?

Narendra Modi

This week the Narendra Modi Government completes three years in office. I am not going to go into the individual claims of all that this Government has achieved or not in various sectors as enough has been written about them already to fill several libraries.

A few years ago I was among those who strongly supported Modi.He was seen by many as the man who would put India on the path to great prosperity, the icon who would transform our country after ridding it of what was perceived as a hopelessly corrupt and venal UPA Government. I believed a lot of what was written about the man and even made enemies with colleagues who had a not so flattering view about him.

Three years is certainly not enough time to transform India.It is scarcely enough time to make significant changes in agriculture, education, healthcare, Infrastructure or indeed in most of the sectors that matter to our citizens. But it is my belief that three years is sufficient to show intent.

Three years is sufficient time to introduce reforms to the bureaucracy to make them more accountable (instead we now have a law that will make them less answerable). Three years is enough to get the Government out of many areas it has no business to be in (the campaign pledge, Minimum Government, Maximum Governance has been a dud, and we now have a Big Government that will decide on everything). Three years is enough to demonstrate sincerity in prosecuting those who face serious charges (instead we have seen the Mallya episode). Three years is enough to hire the best brains from the private sector to try to solve the country’s problems. Three years is enough to create an atmosphere of trust among communities across India (the deep divisions and polarization that has arisen has taken us backwards), three years is more than enough to create a Lok Pal (instead of giving the Court the lamest excuse possible).

I believe in the oft-quoted example that if all you have an Ambassador car, it is not possible to win a Formula-1 race merely by changing the driver. In effect changing the
driver is what we did in 2014.The mandate was for Modi to get us a new Formula-1 car, not to fine tune the Ambassador car to go marginally faster. The Ambassador car, of course, refers to the machinery of Government. At the very least we needed a new engine, so far there is little evidence we are getting one.

It was my belief that Modi would change the system, introduce accountability, punish the guilty, bring in systemic changes to ensure that the Government worked faster and more efficiently. We are yet to see a little structural change in Government or indeed Governance. The process of administration remains the same, the babus remain as unaccountable as ever and belief that a powerful Government can solve every problem the country faces on its own has only grown. Introducing Biometric
attendance or saying that the PM works 18 hours a day are but cosmetic embellishments that will have little impact. The PM can work for 24 hours a day if he so wishes and it will make little more than an incremental difference. The problem is with the bureaucracy, the entrenched Government staff at every level who serve as powerful vested interests in preventing even a Prime Minister with good intentions from delivering to the people. Without changing the Governance model (getting a new engine), a very little transformation is possible. Most of the big-ticket projects announced by the PM remain either on the drawing board or in shambles, not because of any lack of
sincerity or effort on the PM’s part but because the general sloth in the Government will not allow them to progress quickly.

Modi’s touching belief in the abilities of the bureaucrats who served him in Gujarat and who have mostly been carted en masse to Delhi can only help that much. Yes, there have been positives but most neutral observers will agree that there hasn’t been anything hugely transformational.

The blame for the lack of visible progress has been put on State Governments, the judiciary, the Opposition, the liberals etc. Everyone is to blame except the Prime Minister. And did I say lack of visible progress? Can people even question this? Fudged statistics being put out by the Government Agencies is now depressingly routine so much so that virtually nothing the Government says can be taken at its face value.

Many argue that the changes implemented by the Modi Government will take time to create a visible impact. There is also the point of view that with corruption having by all accounts reduced at the top layers of Government things are bound to change. But there needs to be the realization that, to the man in the street it does not matter at what layer the money gets pilfered or even why a project failed. The benefits of a project do not reach him irrespective of whether the cookie has been nibbled in Delhi or down his street and it is immaterial to him where the bungling happened. Yes, there will be some welcome changes because of corruption reducing at the top, but they will be incremental and not at the pace that I believe we all want.

There are still two more years before this Government faces its next election. There is time for the Prime Minister to change tack, to bring in the reforms that he said he would. But for that, there needs to be a tacit admission that things are not working as expected. As long as we are busy patting ourselves on the back by dubious statistics and hysterical support of a sold out mainstream media and on social media for the “achievements” of the last three years, things are unlikely to change.

Most of the nation I believe still has faith in Narendra Modi. That is why he is winning elections again and again. There is hope that he will chart a fresh course and India could truly achieve the glory that we are capable of.