The Bitter Medicine

Implementation of policy to supply only neem-coated urea to Indian farmers will have far-reaching effects.

- Sutanu Guru

CRITICS OF THE Narendra Modi regime, and there are legions of vociferous ones despite the tall talk in intolerance, have a favourite theme when a policy starts delivering positive outcomes. They insist that the regime is merely imitating schemes and policies launched during the UPA regime.

In a way they are right. For example, Aadhar is an initiative by the UPA government. Despite legitimate concerns over security and privacy, the Aadhar card has worked magic for millions of Indian poor. Then again, Jan Dhan Yojana traces its roots to the UPA. But it is under the Modi regime that the financial inclusion scheme has well and truly taken off.

Subsidised LPG connections for the poor is yet another UPA era policy that the present regime has accelerated to directly benefit close to 20 million poor women. In fact, the free LPG or Ujwala scheme is credited with the recent electoral victories of the BJP in crucial states like Uttar Pradesh.

While Aadhar, Jan Dhan and free LPG have grabbed media attention and headlines, one more UPA era policy is quietly promising to transform Indian agriculture even as it plugs leakages and corruption. In the financial year just gone by, the Ministry of Agriculture claims that total food grains output will be more than 271 million tonnes, up from about 251 million tonnes.