No Progress, Only Half-hearted Measures, If Any

- My Siddiqui

The NDA Union Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes three years on May 26, 2017. It’s therefore relevant to talk of its performance heretofore. Prom-ises of achche din (halcyon days), sabka saath, sabka vikas (inclusive development), and corruption free transparent governance remain elusive. There is no progress, only half-hearted measures, if any. On the contrary, there is a phenomenal rise in social tensions, resulting in terrorising of minorities and dalits, as never before, into their further deprivation, wider discriminatory treatment, intolerance, fear and insecurity, thus unsettling the time tested civilisational strength of India. People in general not feeling secured, so much for the rule of law based democratic governance. Promises to end naxalism (left wing extremism), terrorism, militancy, insurgency, etc. remain on paper; they seem to have raised their monstrosity with more ferocity than ever before. Kashmir is on the boil. There is total alienation of the people. Still the Government has been winning elections after elections. The mantra has been splintering people along religious line, nationalism, hate mongering and communal consolidation.

Indian economy remains where it existed in 201314. There is no creation of two crore jobs annually, as promised. On the contrary, IT sector, as estimated, will curtail jobs by two lakh yearly in the next four years, given the downturn in global economy. Inflation is down on account of demonetisation of high currency notes, resulting in massive lay-offin jobs in informal sector of economy comprising over 40 per cent, closure of small and medium industry, lesser consumption by people, loss of buying capacity of poor and vulnerable as also willingness of businesses to sell their products and services at heavy discounts.