MODI GOVERNMENT'S 5 YEARS PERFORMANCE REVIEW - CHAPTER 1 (NEGATIVES)

          It’s election season. Biggest democracy in the world is gearing up to or (in some parts) already has geared up to Indian General Election which is scheduled to be held in 7 phases from 11th April to 19th May to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. Opinion polls are out across all sections of media. Various journalists & political commentators are daily writing about different parties or leaders and their agendas, their manifestos, their chances in upcoming election etc etc. but there is hardly any in depth analysis of Indian Government’s (or more popularly known as Modi Government’s) performance in the last 5 years. I am no political expert but thought of giving it a try as I have been following quite a bit of politics since last 5-6 years. I have divided this into 3 chapters– Negatives, Grey Areas & Positives.                                 

                                                CHAPTER 1 - NEGATIVES

          Cow vigilantes carried out mob lynchings across India against Muslims & Dalits for legally or illegally carrying cattle and for eating beef. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t new & didn’t start only after 2014 elections. It has been happening since last few decades. According to researcher & author Anand Ranganathan, at least 14 such incidents took place in 2013 alone during UPA regime. ScoopWhoop News carried out a similar research for 2011 and 2012, and found that the results were similar. But still, the numbers increased during the current regime. It happened because the offenders knew that the right wing party is in power. Although Modi appealed to people to not to take law into their hands, his statement came very late & he was criticized for staying silent for a long period of time. The government didn’t seem much interested in preventing these crimes.  

      

          Just like UPA governments, BJP government also ignored farmers’ distress. Apart from increasing minimum support (MSP) prices to 50% above the cost of production for 14 crops grown in kharif (summer) season, government didn’t do much to reduce the plight of farmers. Sadly farmer suicides continue to happen. Demands to increase MSP for other crops have been ignored.

          The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) launched in 2015 was a right step in the right direction. Its primary objective is to enhance more “crop per drop” by implementing water-saving technologies and precision irrigation. It has been achieving its annual targets largely because of high performance by 5 states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu) – accounting for 78% of progress in micro-irrigation. Other states are lagging behind as they are not able to release their share of funds as Centre provides 60% of funds & States have to provide 40%. But is this much enough?

          After completing almost 5 years & during the election year, government has now decided to give six thousand rupees income support annually to poor farmers. While we may think it’s a very small amount, it can be little helpful to poverty stricken rural farmers. But is that enough? Clearly it isn’t. This doesn’t solve the problem of farmers.

          The BJP’s 2014 manifesto promised to double farmer incomes, increase minimum support prices to 1.5 times the cost of production, rationalize agricultural markets, make institutions for procurement more efficient & promote value additions to food production. Even if the government would have achieved close to 50% of its above promises, it would have a great deal for farmers. Government should have introduced new techniques and made major reforms in agricultural sector to combat the problems faced by farmers due to drought.      

          Environment is another area where the current government has gone completely wrong. Internationally India has a positive image in accordance to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. But on ground level, things are quite opposite. In favour of its development policy, lots of trees & forests are either under the danger of getting cut into pieces or already has been cut. Development is very necessary but it should not come at the cost of deforestation. Providing environmental clearances has never been so easy and these clearances are coming from the Organizations & Authorities whose role actually is to protect forests & conserve the environment. To be fair on most occasions, it’s the BJP state governments who are at the helm of these but they clearly have great support & approval from the central government.

          Freedom of expression was curtailed to an extent in the field of cinema by the government. Marathi film Nude & Malayalam film Sexy Durga (later changed to S Durga) were the two films banned by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at 2017 International Film Festival of India (IFFI). IFFI chief Sujoy Ghosh resigned from the post in protest.

          Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), a body under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) faced a lot of criticism & troubled filmmakers when it was chaired by Pahlaj Nihalani for mindlessly censoring & suggesting nonsensical edits to the filmmakers. The biggest victims were Udta Punjab & Lipstick Under My Burkha whose makers had to fight tooth & nail to ensure their films get released the way they had envisioned. After heavy bashing of CBFC by film industry & citizens and after much delay, Pahlaj NIhalani was finally sacked & was replaced by the composed Prasoon Joshi. Controversies surrounding CBFC have now reduced a lot under his leadership. But in spite of all these, Ministry of I&B did not revamp the heavily criticized existing confusing guidelines of CBFC which ideally should only be certifying & not censoring films. 

          I will be talking about the Grey Areas of Modi government’s performance in my next blog. Stay tuned for it. 😉