India is gradually approaching the Lok Sabha elections and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is nearing the end of its ten-year tenure. Now is the time to assess how this government has performed on various fronts over the last 9.5 years.
Since taking office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has implemented numerous flagship projects. These schemes have attempted to address fundamental problems that could not be solved from 1947 to 2014. The statistics and beneficiaries demonstrate how successful this effort has been.
The governments before 2014 were unable to provide even basic services to the people of the country, such as clean water, permanent housing, a gas cylinder, a bank account, electricity, and toilets. PM Modi after coming to power in the year 2014 decided to address these issues first. Let us understand what the impact of PM Modi’s policies has been in terms of planning.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
A home is the most important and basic need of any family. Millions of poor people in the country were forced to live under vulnerable roofs or rented houses before 2014. No government has ever been able to provide them with a permanent home. To address this issue, the Modi government launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in June 2015.
Under this scheme, beneficiaries are given Rs 2.5 lakh in urban areas and Rs 1.2 lakh in rural areas for the construction of a house. Beneficiaries are chosen through a survey process under this scheme.
According to available data, 1.18 crore houses have been approved for construction under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). 77.5 lakh of these houses have already been built. The government has allocated 1.53 lakh crore for this purpose.
In rural areas, 2.94 crore houses have been authorized under this scheme, of which 2.48 crore have been built. The Central Government, in collaboration with the State Governments, has provided a total of 2.6 lakh crore for this purpose.
In the nine years that Modi has been in power, a total of 3.25 crore houses have been built across the country. One Sunita who is a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, is the scheme’s beneficiary. Sunita makes a living by selling flowers in front of a temple.
“Brother, we have been trying to make our permanent home for the last ten years. We tried many jobs to earn money. Today we could make our home only because of PM Modi,” Sunita says in Awadhi.
Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana
Crores of households in the country had no LPG connections before 2014. As a result of this, women were forced to cook food using wood fuels and other fuels, risking their health. Not only did this have a negative impact on their health, but they also had to deal with hazards such as cutting wood for firewood and dealing with fire. Aside from that, pollution had its role to play.
To fight this problem, Ujjwala Scheme was launched on 1st May 2016. Under this, free LPG connections were given to poor families. Along with this, they were also provided with gas stoves. Before the launch of this scheme, only 62.1% of the houses in the country had LPG connections.
Clean fuel has reached 99.8% of homes since the scheme’s inception. In the first phase of Ujjwala, 8 crore connections were distributed across the country, with an additional 1.6 crore distributed in the second phase.
Sunita, who has benefited from the Modi government’s Awas Yojana Scheme, has also benefited from the Ujjwala scheme. “Previously, one had to bring wood to cook, which was a major issue during the rainy season because the wood was wet; now, there is no problem,” she says thanking Prime Minister Modi for the positive change in her life.
Jal Jeevan Mission: Har Ghar Jal
The most difficult problem that the Modi government faced was that it had to complete work that should have been completed decades ago. The BJP government led by PM Modi had to even figure out how to get clean water to every home.
Jal Jeevan Mission was established in 2019 to address this issue. The government has established a target of providing clean water through a tap to every house in the country, whether it is in the Terai plains of Uttar Pradesh or somewhere in the Nilgiri hills of Tamil Nadu.
Before the launch of this scheme, only 16.82% (3.23 crore) of houses in the country had access to tap water. In states like Uttar Pradesh, only 1.9% of the houses had a tap water supply.
It has been more than 4 years since this scheme started. This scheme has been running for over four years. Tap water is now available in 70.17% (13.5 crore) of the country’s homes. Since the scheme’s inception, the government has given the states a total of Rs 1.52 lakh crore. However, some states, such as West Bengal and Rajasthan, are still unable to properly implement this scheme.
“Previously, one had to go to the public tap of the Nagar Panchayat to get water, where supply was only available for one or two hours,” says Balram, a beneficiary of this scheme. “Even in cold weather, one had to get up at 5 a.m. to get a water vessel refilled. When there was a delay, water had to be filled using a hand pump that ran the risk of arsenic poisoning. Water has begun to flow into the house taps now,” he adds.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
Before 2014, corruption was a major issue in the country’s development. In a public speech, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi admitted that if the Central Government sent Rs 1 from Delhi, only 15 paise would reach the beneficiary.
This problem could not be solved for decades. Additionally, there was a large population in the country that had no familiarity with the banking system. Neither did they have any bank account nor were they given any preference in banks. At times, the government also could not provide benefits to the beneficiaries due to no bank accounts.
To address both of these issues, the Modi government launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana on August 28, 2014, just three months after taking office. The goal was to have at least one account in every household in the country. Camps were established, and new branches were set up.
This scheme was so successful that 50.8 crore accounts were opened as a result of it. So far, the government has transferred Rs 32 lakh crore to beneficiaries via these accounts. And not a single rupee leak has been reported from these funds.
The advantages of the Jan Dhan Yojana are not limited to scheme implementation. The government has linked the Jan Jyoti public insurance scheme to this scheme. These accounts have been extremely beneficial in ensuring the success of the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, expanding Rupay cards, and accelerating the movement of Digital India.
Sunita is also a Jan Dhan Yojana beneficiary, having received Ujjwala and Awas Yojana benefits. She now puts small sums of money into her account. She saves Rs 200 or Rs 500 and deposits it into her account through the Jan Suvidha Kendra. She claims that her small savings contributed significantly to the marriage of her two daughters, Mamta and Sarita.
Pradhan Matri Mudra Yojana
Mudra Yojana was launched by the government in April 2015 to provide easy loans to small entrepreneurs. The problem was that banks did not give loans to small entrepreneurs because they sometimes did not have the documents and sometimes the banks refused them saying that they did not have any guarantee to give against the loan.
Loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 50 lakh are easily granted by resolving these issues in this scheme. This has been a huge help to small business owners all over the country. Mudra Yojana has so far provided loans totaling Rs 23.2 lakh crore to over 40 crore beneficiaries. The most important aspect of this scheme is that 70% of its beneficiaries are women.
Road and Rail revolution
The state of the country’s roads was deplorable when the Modi government took office in 2014. Railways were only used to transport laborers from one state to another. There was no new technology or strategy in place.
The biggest achievement of the Modi government in the field of railway infra is the electrification of more than 90% of the country’s railway network. Before the Modi government came to power in 2014, only 21,413 km of railway lines were electrified in the last 67 years post-independence. In just 9 years, it has more than doubled to 59,818 kilometers.
This electrification has reduced pollution while saving the railways money on diesel. Apart from that, Railways has replaced the old ICF coaches in its trains with LHB coaches, providing safety and more comfort.
Railways have started trains like Vande Bharat, the number of which is constantly increasing, to provide good facilities to Indians. While the Congress government developed only 21 Shatabdi trains in 29 years in 1988, the number of Vande Bharat trains in 2019 rose to 68.
In terms of the railway network, the country’s total railway network in 2014 was 65,808 kilometers, which has now increased to 68,043 kilometers. The rest of the existing network has been upgraded to accommodate faster trains by increasing track capacity. Apart from that, the Dedicated Freight Corridor is a significant achievement in this sector.
Even the opponents of Modi laud him for his success in the field of roads. The total length of the country’s National Highways in 2013-14 was 91,287 kilometers, which has now increased to more than 1.45 lakh kilometers. This is an approximate 59% increase.
Apart from that, only 18,371 kilometers of national highways were four-lane in 2013-14, which has now increased to 45,000 kilometers. Prior to the Modi administration, an average of 10-12 kilometers of road were built per day; this has increased to 35 kilometers in 2021-22.
In addition, new motorways are being constructed across the country. Before 2014, motorways could be counted on a single hand, but now they stretch for thousands of kilometers. Many new motorways are still being built in Uttar Pradesh.
IMEEC Project
PM Modi is not only implementing Indian schemes here but also making the country a part of global projects that will benefit India immensely. One such project, IMEEC (India Middle East Economic Corridor), has begun in India.
This plan is quite ambitious, costing Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Under the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), goods will be transported by ship from Indian ports to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
Following that, the containers need to be transported by train to Haifa, Israel. The containers will be shipped from Haifa to Europe, including Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. India has already begun work on connecting Indian ports with rail links under this project.
Notably, these schemes are not just on paper but are being executed on the ground. The best thing about Modi’s schemes from India to abroad is that they reach the intended recipients. If the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are fought on the basis of what the Manmohan Singh government did during its ten years in office versus what the Modi government has done, Prime Minister Modi will undoubtedly be miles ahead of them.
The next general election is expected to be held in India between April and May 2024 to elect the members of the 18th Lok Sabha.
