Niti Adhayayan; Editor: Digvijay Singh, Sangeeta Keshari and Co-Editor Abhishek Kumar Publisher: Book Age Publications; Pp 244, Rs 695 .00
An edited book in Hindi, titled Niti Adhayayan, published by Book Age Publications, is a compilation of analysis of policies formulated and implemented by the Yogi Adityanath Government in Uttar Pradesh from 2017 to 2021. This book describes the nature of political transformation that happened under the regime of the Yogi Government and presents a comparative analysis of the model of governance and impact of welfare policies during previous and the present Governments.
The politics of transformation for a Government primarily deals with the politics of change which are brought in through legislations, policy formulation, and the successful implementations of those policies. The essence of transformative politics exists in challenging the structures of domination. Those structures which not only reproduce the condition for exploitation, marginalisation but also relegates individuals or society to bare life. The ambition of transformative politics hence rests upon liberating the individual or society from the chain of oppression and help in realisation of the self, where one could be at its best in congruence with society. While placing forth, any political leader under the category of transformative politics needs to analyse whether his vision and acts corresponded to target the structures of domination or not. In what manner those structures figured in his ideas and how he responded toward it?
The present book elaborates upon various policies and provides a clear picture of the success and failure of those policies. The book has been divided into nine chapters which broadly covers the policies and issues related to health, education, infrastructure, employment, skill development, migration, tackling of wide-spread pandemic and women empowerment. As the world system divides the world into three categories: core, semi-periphery and the periphery, the sub-regions of the States could be marked similarly. The Terai and the areas which are remotely situated even from semi-urban areas are facing severe challenges and are least developed.
Taking inspiration from the Antyodaya philosophy of Pandit Deendayal Upadhayaya, the Yogi Government introduced “Operation Mamata”. The women staying in the Terai region of Indo-Nepal border lack the basic health facilities. Under Operation Mamata, the Yogi Government installed more than 6 dilapidated auxiliary nurse midwife sub-health centres in Tharu-dominated tribal villages. Between April 2020 and March 2021 more than 750 baby deliveries took place successfully. Under this scheme, the Government installed medical clinics and skilled staff even inside 40 km of forest areas.
The essence of transformation lies with the concept of empowerment that meliorates perfection of life and flourished the fundamentals of human well-being. Political transformation could be examined at two levels i.e. individual and collective but both the parameters of examination are bonded strongly in such a way that the impact over one gives impact on the other. This scheme brought hope for the Tharu women.
The ‘politics of loot’ and ‘the politics of preference’ became the dominating forces in the previous Government, which also resulted into the division in approaches of policy implementation on the basis of castes, regions and religion. But the Yogi Government adopted the method of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas which could be marked in his vision and policies adopted in the last five years of his regime
The book clearly states from its layers of observations that the previous Government had become synonyms with the “family and own caste preferences''. Prominent positions in the prime jobs were pushed in the favour of particular communities which had created a sense of dissatisfaction among other castes of society. The ‘politics of loot’ and ‘the politics of preference’ became the dominating forces in the previous Government, which also resulted into the division in approaches of policy implementation on the basis of castes, regions and religion. But the Yogi Government adopted the method of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas which could be marked in his vision and policies adopted in the last five years of his regime.
The Government under Yogi Adityanathji is working continuously to build a strong and smart infrastructure specially the road connectivity. The Government has introduced more than six expressways, some of these are functional and few are under construction or pipeline. The expansion of expressways in Uttar Pradesh will shorten the distances and time travel in Uttar Pradesh. The Lucknow- Ghaziabad Expressway, which was inaugurated recently by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reduced the travelling time between the two major cities of Uttar Pradesh by 2 hours 30 minutes. The Purvanchal Expressway connects 9 prime districts of Uttar Pradesh i.e. Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhaya, Ambedkarnagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghaziabad. The 296 km-long Bundelkhand Expressway will connect the seven districts of Uttar Pradesh. The road connectivity is the vital part of the development project of the Government. The road connectivity decreases the rural and the urban divide and increases the fast track trade opportunity. Therefore, the expressways policies of the Yogi Government is another progressive work for the upliftment of Uttar Pradesh and its people.
Apart from health and road infrastructure, education remained a priority for Yogi Adityanathji. The present Government launched many educational programmes for the overall development of the students and also facilitated them with modern educational infrastructures. The book highlights that to improve quality education, the Yogi Government recommended teaching through NCERT books for the Madrasa students. The idea of the Government is to bring the Madrasa education into the main educational system. This will protect and enhance the quality of education of the minorities. To bring transparency and improve the quality of teaching, the Government directed teachers of Madrasas to enrol their names and other details on the Human Resource Website of the Government. The Uttar Pradesh Government has increased the number of State colleges from 12 to 21 in the last five years which is a remarkable achievement in itself.
The Uttar Pradesh Government has done impressive work for industrial development. For the better functioning of the industrial sector, the Government introduced Nivesh Mitra Portal and within three years of short time Uttar Pradesh has jumped 12 positions upward in the list and acquired second position in ‘ease of doing business’
The book provides a comprehensive analysis of health infrastructure of the Uttar Pradesh Government between 2017 and 2021. By 2019 the Government has installed a total of 856 community health centres, 3621 primary health centres and 160 district level health centres. The Government under the Yogi regime also installed 30 new medical colleges and 2 All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The book states that the Uttar Pradesh Government has done impressive work for industrial development. For the better functioning of the industrial sector, the Government introduced “Nivesh Mitra Portal” and within three years of short time Uttar Pradesh has jumped 12 positions upward in the list and acquired second position in ‘ease of doing business’.
This book presents a complete picture of the policies study and method of governance in Uttar Pradesh. The effort of the authors of this book – Digvijay Singh, Sangeeta Keshari, Amol Kumar, Abhishek Kumar, Dr Vishal Mishra, Sangeeta Keshari, Satyam, Vijay Dikshit and Dr Ritu Sharma – is to introduce readers with the reality of governance through policies and its impact analysis. There have been some success and failure as well of the policies and governance; hence this book accordingly suggests few remedies. The present book is a complete package for understanding the politics of transformation that took place in UP.
(The writer is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science from Delhi University)
