Independence Day : Report Card with a Road Map

Intro: Prime Minister of Bharat, Narendra Modi has once again proven that here is a new leader with a new vision for the nation and a new commitment towards his national goals.

It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort. Interestingly it came immediately after a Parliament session which, besides being among the most tumultuous and riotous ones in parliamentary history of Bharat. It had also witnessed serious attempts to draw a new fault line that would divide the Bharatiya polity into two distinct camps. One that represents PM Modi's resolve to make Bharat a developed and a prosperous nation; and the other that would prefer to see Bharat stuck into the cesspool of corruption, underdevelopment, inequality and chaos than seeing a BJP leader emerging as the new Messiah of change and development.

No wonder, the latter section of leaders and the tribe of political pundits who share their mental dispensation, were expecting an exasperated Modi to use this special occasion to take his anger out on his detractors. If so, it would surely have been a much larger victory than what they had intended to achieve through stalling Modi Government’s bills and a wash out parliamentary session. One can imagine the glee on their faces seeing a determined PM slipping out of his pre defined orbit and landing into the same black hole of confrontational politics which has kept Bharat gyrating into the vicious circle of bad politics, bad governance, lack of development, poverty and then back to bad politics.
But as expected by his supporters and admirers, Modi once again disappointed his detractors and opponents. He refused to be drawn into the mudslinging match that his opponents have been trying hard to drag him into since past many months. Rather, he stuck to the same agenda of progress and development that he had assigned to himself in his first address to the nation last year from the Red Fort. He remained firmly grounded with his trade mark style of talking simple and ordinary looking but very basic issues which have the potential of transforming Bharat into a developed, disciplined, and equitable and a prosperous Bharat.
For example, he was once again talking of separate toilet facility for girls in every school. This, he firmly believes, will reconnect every girl child to the school and will thus ensure that the left out half of Bharatiya population becomes an equal participant in the national progress within the time span of a single generation. Last year he had mooted this idea from the ramparts of Red Fort. This time he reported to the nation that all of 2.62 lakhs schools across Bharat have been provided with 4.25 lakhs toilets during past 365 days.
FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Speaking about his dream of inclusive growth through financial inclusion, the Prime Minister had yet another success story on his report card to share with the nation. He referred to the Jan Dhan Yojana, his pet project of integrating every poor family into the country's financial system by opening bank account for every family and adult even if the applicant has no money to open the account. Presenting an unexpected aspect of this project which he termed as Gareebon Ki Ameeri (i.e. richness of the poor), he revealed that the banks have already accumulated an impressive sum of Rs. 20,000 (twenty thousand) crore through these ‘zero-balance’ accounts. By connecting these newly opened bank accounts with direct transfer of government subsidies and payments for projects like the MGNREGA, this step of Modi Government has come as a great relief and as an assurance of financial inclusion to millions of poor populations.
To bring nation’s focus on the welfare of the farmers across Bharat, Modi declared that the ministry of Agriculture will now onwards put equal emphasis on the welfare and quality of life of the farmers. To underline this commitment of the government he announced that the name of the ministry will be changed to the ‘Krishi aur Kisan Kalyan Mantralaya’ i.e. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare’.
EMPOWERING THE POWERLESS
The major thrust of Modi's speech this time was essentially focused on taking India ahead through joints efforts of Team-India which comprises of every single Indian citizen who is empowered by the system through education, financial inclusion, equality of opportunity, freedom from corruption and best use of available resources. Most of the plans which he has already assigned to his government or the new ideas which he mooted during his second address to the nation are focused at empowering those who have been virtually left out of the system during past six decades.
Having realised the vast potential of ‘zero-deposit’ bank accounts for the poor families he came up with yet another idea of enrolling each bank branch into his new dream project which he has branded as 'STARTUP INDIA, STANDUP INDIA'.
ASSIGNING TASKS TO HIMSELF
Modi also took this occasion to assign himself and his government colleagues some new targets which are closely linked to the quality of life at the poorest bottom of the Bharatiya pyramid. Referring to the Tiranga Jhanda (the national tricolour) flying above his head on the ramparts of Red Fort, as his saakshee (witness) he gave himself a deadline of 1000 days to take electricity to every single village among those 18,500 villages across Bharat which have been left out of the power distribution network over past six decades. Similarly, he also announced his government's commitment to provide housing for every Bharatiya citizen by 2022.
NATIONAL INTEGRATION THROUGH DEVELOPMENT
Keeping in view the significance of the Independence Day for the national unity and harmony Modi focused on national unity at levels of religion, caste and region. Calling casteism, religious bigotry and regionalism as 'poison' in the body of the nation he expressed his government's commitment to create a suitable environment for easing such tensions.
Underlining the denial of development to most of the eastern regions of the country during past six decades he announced his government's commitment towards improving living standards in Eastern UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa through development and improving connectivity in the North Eastern states. Prime Minister of Bharat, Narendra Modi has once again proven that here is a new leader with a new vision for the nation and a new commitment towards his national goals.
Vijay Kranti (The writer is a senior Journalist who works on Tibet and China related issues)