The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference:
“Saif Ali Khan awarded Padma Shri” – this was a news item that remained with me for a very long time. Because Saif Ali Khan got Padma Shri in the same year that Rekha got. Saif Ali Khan infact got Padma Shri before Sridevi got.
We had even read many news items in our regional newspapers (telugu) on how the state government over many years has failed to lobby for more awards to telugu speaking people! What can be a bigger shame than state governments lobbying for these prestigious awards? More importantly, what can be a bigger shame when the accomplishments of some real achievers were often masked by the likes of Saif Ali Khan?
From 2015, not only was this shameful practice put to an end, but now the public can send in their recommendations too! These awards are today rightfully called The Peoples Padma. The most recent emotional example that comes to mind is from the 2019 awards ceremony when 106 year old Saalumaruda Thimakka blessed the President of India. Earlier, “non-famous” achievers receiving Padma awards was an exception to the rule. Today, it is the rule. We learn so much about many real achievers who have silently worked towards the betterment of our country, away from the limelight.
The transformation of the Padma awards is just one of the many examples of how Narendra Modi majorly disrupted the status quo in our system.
Disrupting the Reservation policy
In almost every school and college where there are debates held, one common topic that is always given to the students is “Reservations”. And one common theme that always comes out from the debate is that reservations should be given to the poor and slowly the caste-based reservations should phase out. Why would this theme come out so frequently? Precisely because no one attempted to implement such a model and tweak existing systems.
Within just 3 days, Narendra Modi changed the entire landscape of reservations. On Jan 7, 2019, the Modi government announced 10% reservations to the economically backward sections of India. This 10% is outside of the existing reservation quota. The bill received thumping Parliamentary approval by January 9th! And with the President signing it on January 13th, India now had a new law mandating 10% reservations for the poor. The income limit to be classified as economically poor was put at INR 8,00,000/- per annum. The creamy layer for OBC is also capped at the same amount. So today we have about 31% reservations for only the economically backward in our country. I now wonder what themes would come out of the future reservation debates!
Disrupting our entire Tax mechanism
One of the videos I liked the most is this interaction of a Surat businessman with his highness Rahul Gandhi. The businessman complains that earlier he used to deal in cash and now he has to deal in cheques. His highness Rahul Gandhi interprets his complaint as follows: “Earlier everything happened on trust”!
This interaction happened almost immediately after the introduction of GST in our country. The concept of GST was first discussed in 2003 – just one tax for entire country. It was introduced in Parliament in 2010. However, the UPA woefully failed to build a consensus around GST. Even state governments of the Congress party opposed the form of GST that economist Manmohan Singh proposed.
GST in the then form, had two major problems. One was the lack of an IT backbone and two was the serious lack of trust by certain states because they feared a significant loss of revenue by virtue of not being predominantly manufacturing states. The Modi government-initiated discussions with allthe state governments of India and worked out a formula that was agreed upon by ALL the state governments. One must remember that there are different parties that are in power in different states and it is no mean task to bring a consensus on a topic as contentious as revenue! 17 different taxes were subsumed into just one tax.
The scale at which the GST was implemented was unprecedented. All feedback that used to come in was discussed at the monthly GST Council meets and decisions taken accordingly. The GST Council, that comprises of finance ministers of all states and India, has met 33 times. And has taken 100s of decision – all of them unanimously! Corrective measures were continuously taken to simplify procedures, reduce taxes and issue refunds. Nearly 90,000 crores per month was collected (infact for 4 times, the collections even exceeded INR 1,00,000 crores). India has now firmly established a unique and robust GST system in place.
Disrupting our collective behavior
There are extremely few examples in history, where people from a varied section of the society rise to the call of their Prime Minister and contribute to the development of the society. Seldom (or perhaps never?) have we come across a war-cry like Swachh Bharat. We are terribly notorious for taking pride in spitting on the road, throwing waste on the streets and littering our surroundings. It took one call to the higher conscience by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort to show us the mirror.
An earlier article of mine had given a collage of how children have picked this up in earnest. It is a matter of immense pride that almost all schools across the country have taken up Swachh Bharat in the right earnest and are preparing the future citizens of the country to behave more responsibly. Swachh Bharat does not end here – today, many districts in country are announcing themselves to be Open Defecation Free – because of the massive focus on the construction of toilets.
“Touching a raw nerve” is a phrase that is often used. In my view, the call of the duty by the Prime Minister has touched the “responsibility nerve” of people. What else can explain a Sachin Tendulkar, a Priyanka Chopra, a Anil Ambani, a Temsutula Imsong, a bunch of kids in an apartment complex, a batch of retirees, a group of doctors – working towards a common goal?
Disrupting through Demonetization
I wanted to the save the best for the last. In my opinion, nothing can beat this decision. Not even anything that he will take in his second term. For a nation tired of listening to empty rhetoric of war on corruption, this was truly the first deadly blow. The scale at which it was executed; the minimal rule changes that were bought in; and most importantly, the phenomenal patience with which crores of countrymen supported this move will remain etched in history (Well, sadly not, if at any point of time the Congress cabal comes back to power. They will distort this history too).
If the success of demonetization was to be measured only by how much money did not come back into the system, then we are not looking at its entirety. An assumption that a deposit automatically made black money as white is equally erroneous too. The first measure of success is from the fact that all the money that was floating around has now been accounted for. One of the largest corrupt practices was the setting up of shell companies, only to masquerade the black money. The Modi government cancelled the registrations of 1 lakh shell companies overnight (and more than 3 lakhs so far). Nearly 3 lakh crore rupees worth of deposits have been identified as suspect and investigations are ongoing.
People have realised that this is the best time to come clean – today the number of people filing IT returns have nearly doubled. The 50 days of demonetization proved to us what a strong leadership and a willing populace can achieve. The opposition and media craved for many disturbances, instead we had concerned citizens distributing roses to hard working bank staffers!
Every single Disruptive Act of Narendra Modi was aimed towards making India a better place to live. We needed a rude wakeup call from our status quo practices. The Modi government dared to give us these wakeup calls across multiple sectors in the first term. The Disruptor in Narendra Modi lived up to expectations!
This is the 8th part in a series on the Narendra Modi Government. Here are the links to the previous parts:
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