Architect of new India: Narendra Modi

Hrishikesh Sarma

(hriskikeshsarma@gmail.com)

Shri Narendra Modi, who rose from humble beginnings to become Gujarat's Chief Minister and then India's Prime Minister, has become a household name throughout the world. The early trials of his life not only taught him the importance of hard labour but also exposed him to the unavoidable sorrows of ordinary people, which encouraged him to devote his life to serving people and the country since his childhood. Before mentioning his service, his journey of reaching this level itself is of noteworthy inspiration. During his two-decade of service to the country, he has carried on the success of Gujarat's growth model to India's holistic growth and development. Under his excellent leadership, our country has seen unprecedented levels of people-centric nation-building activities.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ushered a paradigm change in governance, leading to inclusive, developmental, and corruption-free government, by walking the road of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas." The Prime Minister has been working at a breakneck speed to ensure that schemes and services are delivered to the people at their doorstep. Today, India is home to Ayushman Bharat, the world's biggest healthcare programme, which provides top-quality, inexpensive healthcare to India's underprivileged and neo-middle classes. Because of the Modi government's pro-business policy, India has become a magnet for foreign investors. Intending to make India self-sufficient, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package, which is about 10% of India's GDP in 2019-20.

Hon'ble Prime Minister throughout his 20 years in the Constitutional Office, as well as how he has brought unity and peace to the nation by guaranteeing national security. Furthermore, the government's effective decision-making has overcome decades-old deadlocks such as the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the provision of equitable opportunity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and the defensive system against the Covid-19 epidemic. He has established several programs aimed at empowering women and fostering gender equality. By uprooting concerns at the grassroots level, the government has gained the public's confidence and has a direct line of communication with them.

One of the longest-serving elected leaders in our country, Shri Narendra Modi, has come a long way in electoral politics, first as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and now as the Prime Minister. The 1.3-billion-strong nation has been swayed by his charisma and political acumen, have developed a strong political and economic bonding, thus making him the world's most popular leader. He has revitalized India's social and security landscape, delivered on his commitment to the people and selflessly worked day-in and day-out for providing corruption-free and people-centric governance. The holistic development of our society and country by revitalizing the rich traditions of the land, passionately raising social issues plaguing India and then effectively addressing them through public discourse and participation has enriched our nations journey under an able leader.

The humanitarian and compassionate face of Indian diplomacy shone in a variety of ways under the Modi government, in addition to cultural outreach. In this spirit, the administration also went out to the world's 30 million Indian diasporas, reinvigorating their feeling of belonging to India and enlisting their help in the national revival mission. Moreover, terming NRI's as Nation's brand ambassadors and leaving no stone unturned to nurture their lives in every way possible, Shri Narendra Modi touched their lives and brought them closer to India.

Shri Narendra Modi has carried forward the best practices of the past and worked towards the glorious future of the nation. He has reiterated on different occasions how his administrative experience in Gujarat helped him understand the nuances of every sector in a better way. Various central government schemes, like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and international initiatives led by India, specifically the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) have been embedded with the owner-driven reconstruction approach and emphasis on multi-hazard resistant construction and capacity building implemented during the earthquake in Gujarat (2001).

He is the key proponent for making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. The electronically improved infrastructure in the country led by increasing internet connectivity has made government services available at the doorstep of people living in every corner of the country. Government programmes and projects, like the BharatNet project, optical fibre network, are not only constantly expanding their reach at the Gram panchayat level but have also provided access to technology-driven services to the island UTs, the recent instance being the inauguration of the first-ever undersea optical fibre cable project for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Shri Narendra Modi showed the path of inculcating the vigour to convert a crisis into an opportunity. His clarion call for Aatmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India at the time of the pandemic brought forth India's unhealthy and insatiable dependencies on import and gave India the apt moment for course correction. The Aatmanirbhar programme goes beyond indigenization and aims to make India self-reliant in political, economic, military, social, and cultural aspects while rediscovering and developing India's inherent strengths.

The advent of Shri Narendra Modi, first as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and then as the Prime Minister of India, signalled the start of a new era of people-centric governance, developmental diplomacy, active foreign policy engagements, grass-root level outreach and performance-based politics. Upholding the promise of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas", the Shri Narendra Modi-led NDA government continues its legacy of good governance in its second consecutive term at the office. He has successfully ushered an inclusive, development-oriented and corruption-free governance facilitating speed in decision-making. No Indian Prime Minister has ever before generated the kind of tenor and volume of academic literature that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, spanning across various fields of governance, public policy as well as foreign policy.

As Shri Narendra Modi approaches his 20th year in the Constitutional office, it is vital to recognise the accomplishments of the administrations that he led from the front. During his leadership, he faced many obstacles, but he handled them all well and created a standard of excellent governance that continues to inspire leaders across the world. He used his political acumen to address challenges that the people were facing, and he did it more successfully than anybody else.

At a very young age Shri Narendra Modi had decided to dedicate his life to the service of the people and since then has been fulfilling the role of a dynamic, decisive and development-oriented leader who has emerged as a ray of hope for the dreams and aspirations of a billion Indians. He displayed his skills as a grassroots level worker, an organiser and an administrator during his 13-year long stint as the Chief Minister of his home state of Gujarat, where he ushered a paradigm shift towards pro-people and pro-active good governance.

History was scripted in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on the evening of 26th May 2014 as Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India after a historic mandate from the people of India and has been since then making efforts to bring a qualitative difference in the lives of the people. He has led by example and learned from our ancient traditions, for instance, every year PM Modi visit soldiers to celebrate Diwali, the tradition he started over when he took over the position of PM in 2014.

The maiden budget, presented by then-Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, signalled the start of a new era of people-centred governance. With the release of many welfare measures from the paper to the public, a new chapter in India's growth story was added.

Considering power as the key player in the economic development of the country, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana was envisaged, to provide the clock uninterrupted power supply to all homes.

In today's world, digital infrastructure was required to complete tasks quickly and easily with only one click. Given the importance of the digital ecosystem, the Digital India campaign was launched to further bridge the digital divide by ensuring broadband connectivity at the village level, improved access to services through IT-enabled platforms, greater transparency in government processes, and increased indigenous production of IT hardware and software for exports.

Shri Narendra Modi administration is dedicated to achieving universal housing by 2022 and hence, in 2014, it was proposed to offer an extra tax benefit on home loans to encourage people, particularly the young, to own homes. The establishment of a Low-Cost Affordable Housing Mission, based at the National Housing Bank was also suggested in 2014. Incentives for the building of low-cost, affordable homes were devised.

Under the leadership of Shri Modi, the External Affairs Ministry established a new 'States Division' in October 2014 to coordinate facilitation efforts between Mission/Post(s) and State/Union Territories Governments, as well as foreign diplomatic and trade missions in India. Municipal bonds allowed for money to be raised directly from the market.

The Central Government started the Sagarmala initiative in 2015 to leverage the country's coastline and inland waterways to boost industrial growth. With the development of inland waterways, Sagarmala is projected to lower the cost and time of moving products, helping industry and export/import commerce. The project is massive, with 150 projects distributed over four main sectors and a total budget of Rs 4 lakh crore. One, upgrade port infrastructure and expand capacity by adding up to six new ports. Two, by constructing rail corridors, freight-friendly expressways, and inland waterways, increase port connection. Three, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, construct 14 coastal economic zones (SEZs) and a special economic zone (SEZ) with industry clusters to allow port-led industrialization. Developing the abilities of fishermen and other coastal and island people is number four on the list.

Bharatmala Pariyojana, an umbrella programme for the highways sector that focuses on optimising the efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions such as the development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors, and other initiatives, was launched to bring a new wave of development to the country in the form of well-maintained and developed roads. To empower the farmers of our country, E-NAM was created in 2016 to improve agricultural marketing consistency by simplifying procedures across integrated marketplaces, reducing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers, and encouraging real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply. The program's goal was to connect APMCs across the country with a single online market platform, allowing for pan-India trading in agricultural commodities and improved price discovery through a transparent auction process based on product quality, as well as quick online payment. The Ministry of Civil Aviation took a monumental step towards making flying a reality for the average person in small towns under the visionary leadership of Shri Modi. Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) is a ground-breaking plan to grow the regional aviation industry. It's a market-based system where airlines compete for seat subsidies. This global first-of-its-kind programme established inexpensive, economically feasible, and lucrative regional flights, making flying accessible to the general public, even in tiny communities. The Central government, under the visionary leadership of Shri Modi, declared plans to renovate and improve 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) in 2018.

To provide online access to health services and ensure last-mile delivery, the Indian government launched several apps, including Swasth Bharat Mobile, ANM Online Application (ANMOL) for beneficiary data collection, Kilkari for audio messages during pregnancy, National Health Portal, Online Registration System, and others.

On February 21, 2016, the Honourable Prime Minister inaugurated the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) initiative from the state of Chhattisgarh. The mission's goal is to establish rurban clusters, which will help the region, grow more broadly by creating a cluster of urban villages that retain and foster the spirit of rural community life with an emphasis on fairness and inclusivity, without compromising with facilities regarded to be inherently urban. Under the leadership of Shri Modi, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016 established the Real Estate Regulatory Authority to safeguard house buyers while simultaneously boosting real estate investments. A minimum of 70% of purchasers' and investors' money would be held in a separate account under the RERA statute. This money will thereafter be used only for building and land expenditures by the builders. Before the sale agreement is completed, developers and builders cannot ask for more than 10% of the property's cost as an advance payment. Builders are required to produce original papers for every job they take on. Builders are not allowed to make modifications to the blueprints without the buyer's permission. The Government of India in 2017, under the leadership of Shri Modi, approved the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) as a new Central Sector Scheme to cater for the needs of the Himalayan Region. Under the NESIDS rules, the State Governments of the North Eastern Region got 100 % central financing for projects about physical infrastructure such as water supply, power, and connectivity, as well as social infrastructures like elementary and secondary education and health. So far, a total of 22 projects costing Rs. 885.44 crore have been selected for funding under the New Scheme of NESIDS for different States of the North Eastern Region. Following the "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" initiative, the government-linked the disconnected through rural digital infrastructure projects like BharatNet, as well as initiatives for the North-East Region, Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep. It was envisioned as an information superhighway, with a powerful middle-mile infrastructure connecting Gram Panchayats to a broadband connection. It sought to link all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in the country and offer 100 Mbps connection to all gram panchayats to allow the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet, and other services to rural India.