The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:
In one of his speeches after becoming the Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi made a very interesting and an important remark. He said that there are so many projects that have been announced, unveiled, re-announced, re-unveiled, foundation stones laid and re-laid, but haven’t been completed yet. In some cases, projects haven’t even begun! And therefore, he announced that he will first focus on getting these things finished.
Projects always do not necessarily mean the infrastructure related ones. They can also mean many policies that sounded good on paper but were never implemented, either for the lack of political will or lack of a satisfactory “deal”!
Take for example the India Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement – which was pending since nearly 45 years. The agreement was ratified in Parliament unanimously. Think about that – in these turbulent political times, we have had an unanimous resolution in Parliament to resolve a problem after 45 years!
Or take for example, the long pending One Rank One Pension. This problem was pending for nearly 40 years! Infact, the UPA-2 government allocated a measly sum of INR 500 crores for this! This 40 year old problem that was solved in the year 2015 needed INR ~8000 crores an year!
Or the Benami Property Act, that was passed by Parliament in 1988 wasn’t operationalized till 2016 (for 28 years!). Or the GST that was first discussed in the year 2000 and was first planned to be implemented from 2010 onwards. GST saw the light of the day only in the year 2017.
Or the NRC (National Registry for Citizenship) in the Assam that was pending for a whopping 40 years. Or the 1400 colonial era laws that were abolished. Colonial Era would indicate that some laws are even more than 100 years old! The Modi government took the commendable step to abolish ~1400 such useless laws.
Focusing on such policy paralysis also meant that this attitude is also extended to the many pending infrastructure projects. No mention of the Narendra Modi government is complete without talking about the hug infrastructure gains we have made in the past 5 years. The Prime Minister setup a regular meeting titled PRAGATI. Through this he has reviewed all long pending projects and more importantly has figured out a way to take them to completion. A total of 26 PRAGATI meetings have been held so far, with direct interaction with the officials closer to the ground. What’s the result? The following projects were finished! (Hat tip to the unknown user who researched this and coined the word “finisher” for Modi!).
- Bansagar Canal - Pending for 40 yrs
- Kollam Bypass - Pending for 43 yrs
- Vns-Kol Waterway - Pending for 32 yrs
- Bogibeel Bridge - Pending for 21 years
- Chabahar Port - Pending for 15 yrs
- Sardar Sarovar Dam - Pending for 15 yrs
- Western Peripheral Expressway - Pending for 15 yrs
- Strategic Oil Reserves - Pending for 13 yrs
- Kota Chambal Bridge - Pending for 12 yrs
- Rifle Factory in Amethi - Pending for 12 yrs
- Kishanganga Hydro - Pending for 11 yrs
- Pakyong Airport - Pending for 10 yrs
- Dhola Sadiya Bridge - Pending for 8 yrs
- Chenani Nashri Tunnel - Pending for 7 yrs
These are just a few examples. Am not quoting the 10s of 1000s of kms of roads laid across the country. Infrastructure didn’t mean roads and bridges alone.
Never before in our history has there been so much focus on developing infrastructure on our waterways! The first ever Multi-Modal Terminal Constructed on River Ganga was inaugurated in this tenure only. Like National Highways, more number of National Waterways have been added to our system. For the first time, we have witnessed a container ship and a cruise ship traverse the waters of Ganga.
Did you know that till the year 2014 the entire North East India was NOT connected through Railways? It was a shocking fact to me when the PM mentioned it in one of his speeches. Today, the entire North East is connected by railways. From Independence till 2014, we had 70 operational airports. In just the last 5 years, more than 30 new airports have been made operational.
A world class National War Memorial, pending for nearly 60 years and the National Police Memorial, pending for nearly 35 years were two significant projects finished during Modi’s tenure.
When a program like Make in India was launched, many did assume that this will just be another government program that will not take off. Today, we have an unprecedented 140 Mobile manufacturing units (as opposed to 2, just 2 in 2014). Today, we have an unprecedented number of automobile manufacturing happening in India. Large companies like Boeing have collaborated with Tata to get into manufacturing of Helicopters.
I can go on and on. Building excellent infrastructure at a pace unheard of before, will remain a unique hallmark of the This article on mine is the 9th in a series of articles I have written to explain the achievements of the Modi government. It took 9 articles to explain the achievements – such is the phenomenal range of accomplishments on this Modi government. All articles have focused only on the achievements of the government, without any negative connotation of what the opposition did NOT do. Basically no whataboutery.
As voting begins on April 11th, it is my earnest belief that we must reflect upon the phenomenal good that has happened and give the Modi government one more chance to continue to build upon this work. Phir ek baar, Modi Sarkar indeed!
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