The Congress has dubbed the three years of Modi government as all round failure which, of course, is not true. According to Congress “youth are struggling to find jobs, farmers are committing suicide and soldiers are dying on the border”. What exactly the government is celebrating? the party leaders ask.

The criticism of the Left is on expected lines. It accused the Modi government of weakening public sector and fast tracking the process of privatization. CPI-M general secretary, Sitaram Yechury alleged that corporates were looting the country; 51 percent of India’s children were suffering from mal-nutrition; government has failed to ensure education and jobs; farmer distress has deepened; prices are rising and communal harmony is under threat.

On electoral Front, after setbacks in Bihar and Delhi, BJP made surprising recovery. Its poll victory in Uttar Pradesh has been spectacular and increased number of MLAs will help the party in coming Presidential elections. If this trend continues and in the most populous state of the country, Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Government performs well, instead of making noises, Modi may get a boost in next general elections in 2019. In Goa and Manipur, BJP could make government by default and sheer lethargy of the Congress. Even though the Congress emerged as single largest party, the BJP was quick (allegedly by dubious means) to wean away Congress MLAs to form the governments in the two states. In Punjab the BJP had otherwise no chance and the field was clear for the Congress.

The available evidence suggests that the BJP is popular across large parts of the country. The party is known to be in permanent campaign mode and would like to leave nothing to chance before 2019 Lok Sabha election.

After UP election victory, foremost among BJP’s ambitions must be breaking the mahagathbandhan in Bihar, which halted advance in the country’s Hindi speaking regions.

The real achievements of the Modi government are on economic front. Few disagree that when the present government took office three years back, the economy had been in great difficulty. Going by the new GDP series, growth had fallen to 5.6% in 2012-13 and 6.6 in 2013-14 compared to 8,3% during the preceding nine years. Inflation and the current account deficit were high. There was deep paralysis in decision making, infrastructure projects were stuck in all areas, corruption, scandal had been breaking out all around and investors were terrified of retrospective taxation.

Today the decision making process has been unblocked, infrastructure building has gained momentum, corruption has been reined in and fears associated with retrospective taxation has been assuaged. As a consequence, growth has been restored. The economy grew 7.2% during 2014-15, 7.9% during 2015-16 and 7.1% during 2016-17. Alongside, inflation has dropped from 8% during the first four months of 2014 to below 4% currently.

These indicators do not reflect the full potential of the economy created by political initiatives of the government. There are lags between the introduction of new policies and realization of their full impact. It was many years of reform, first under Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that eventually translated into the 8.3 per cent annual growth of nine years beginning in 2003-04.

On macroeconomic front, the government has steadily brought fiscal deficit down from 4.5% in 2013-14 to 3.5% in 2016-17. It also introduced inflation targeting, which has been central to holding down inflation. The exchange rate has been managed prudently.

A key focus area of the government has been governance. The list of measures includes the end of bureaucratic paralysis, streamlining of environmental clearance, improving the ease of doing business, self certification of true copies of diplomas and degrees, repeal of 1,175 redundant laws, close monitoring of projects, ranking of states in health, education and water, end of plan and non-plan distinction in the budget, merging of the railway and national budget and advancing of date of budget presentation to cut delays in disbursement of funds to the ministries and states. During the three years, there has not been a single allegation of high-level corruption.

Several key reforms have been introduced through new laws. Early legislations in this category included those relating to auctions of coal, and mines and minerals. Later on came big-ticket items such as Aadhaar Act, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act and various Goods and Services Tax (GST) acts.

Closure of sick public sector units and privatization of healthier ones that do not serve a public purpose have returned to the active policy agenda of the government. Surprisingly, Cabinet has already approved the plans for closure of nearly a dozen sick PSUs. Privatization has not moved at a commensurate pace but it too has made progress with the cabinet giving a go ahead to 20 PSUs. The government is also proceeding with the listing of currently unlisted PSUs in a time bound manner. (IPA Service)