It is 67 years, 11 months and 25 days since India attained Independence. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unfurl the national Tricolour from the ramparts of the Red Fort. It will be his second I-Day address to the nation.
Modi has converted the otherwise routine I-Day into a ‘calendar event’ with policy pronouncements that find place in the budget that follows. Last year’s highlights included Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY), Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, the toilets for schools scheme and Adarsh Gram… ideas promising long-term change.
Taking Stock
How have they done? JDY is an enrolment success that awaits operational expansion. NITI Aayog has replaced the Planning Commission but is yet being defined. The rest could at best be described as “work in progress”. And progress of each idea is haunted by a confluence of addled perceptions, design errors and inadequate capacity.This year, Modi—who knows the multiplier effect of social media in aggregating public opinion—has called for suggestions on what he should speak on. The suggestions that poured in on myGov.in are essentially appeals to instal change for a more efficient government. And the citizens’ quest is not a romantic notion but a response to the parade of inefficiency in public services and wastage/theft witnessed and paid for by taxpayers.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha voted to allow government to spend an additional Rs 40,821 crore. Of this, Rs 11,116.76 crore—four times the amount allocated for crop insurance—will be used to write off losses of Prasar Bharati. Rs 12,721 crore will be used to recapitalise banks. The fact that profits of private banks are higher than all PSU banks and that the market cap of top five private banks is more than that of all PSU banks is evidence of the magnitude of malaise.