Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways

Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways

The National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kicked off a two-part survey where the people will rate its policies and initiatives as it completes two years in office. Thousands have already joined in to answer the 30 questions covering anything from foreign policy to signature schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and Make In India, hosted on the citizen engagement platform mygov,in.

While Make in India, ease of doing business and controlling corruption figure somewhere in the middle of the ratings, other schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and unearthing black money have scored the least.

Initial data captured on the portal will make Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu happy. More than 74 per cent of the people who have participated in the survey so far have given 5 stars to the government effort in modernising Indian Railways, taking it to the top position out of a total of 15 schemes. Only 1.04 per cent of the people have given it 1 star. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is next with 65.8 per cent people giving 5 stars to government efforts in providing highway connectivity. It is the only sector where nobody has given it the lowest grade of 1.

The NDA's foreign policy has scored high as well with 63.21 per cent giving the initiative 5 stars. It got 1 star from 3.63 per cent of the respondents. The PM himself has mostly been at the forefront of the foreign policy initiatives, though Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is also seen having contributed to the overall effort.Click here to read the full article.

Two years of Narendra Modi's foreign policy: more misses than hits

Two years of Narendra Modi's foreign policy: more misses than hits

In year one of his tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised all who had doubted his ability to negotiate the esoteric world of international diplomacy. Modi came across as a conjurer with a bag of tricks, the likes of which were seldom seen from his predecessors, making even his worst critics reassess their opinion of the former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak. But, foreign policy reverses in year two have given his political rivals an opportunity to point not at the conjurer’s magic trick but his sleight of hand.

In the past two years, Modi’s visits across the world, including the surprise one to Pakistan, have garnered much social and mainstream media coverage. He has also successfully reached out to the substantial Indian diaspora, particularly the wealthier sections living in Europe and North America. There is, however, little to show in terms of brass-tacks — whether geopolitically or investment-wise. But, the PM has continued undeterred to beguile with his foreign policy initiatives, the element of surprise being the leitmotif of his foreign policy.

His inviting South Asian leaders to his swearing-in ceremony, his subsequent visits to the neighbouring countries, the rapturous reception he received from the Indian diaspora in the US and other countries, the surprise invite to US President Barack Obama to be the chief guest at the Republic Day and the audacious visit to Pakistan in end-December — all were delivered with the finesse of a master at work. Modi, as he completed two years, has continued to surprise — this time with his West Asia outreach. His visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August, Saudi Arabia in April and to Iran in May, and his forthcoming visit to Qatar have again left foreign policy wonks intrigued. Year three of Modi’s tenure is likely to see some more surprises — a historic first visit by an Indian PM to Israel is in the works as is a multi-nation visit to the African continent, including to such countries with significant presence of the Indian diaspora such as South Africa and Kenya.Read more.

CEO Poll: Modi govt meets expectations of India Inc on reforms

CEO Poll: Modi govt meets expectations of India Inc on reforms

With the Narendra Modi government completing two years in office, an overwhelming majority of the 50 chief executive officers (CEOs) surveyed by this newspaper said the government has met their expectations on economic reforms. The average rating was seven out of 10.

In a nationwide survey conducted by this newspaper over the past three weeks, CEOs said a number of steps taken by the government - bringing down the corporate tax rate, clearing the retrospective tax mess and a new bankruptcy law - have made it easier to do business in India. They also appreciated initiatives like Digital India and the Swachh Bharat campaign. When asked about the positives of the government, CEOs cited better foreign relations, taming inflation and bringing down corruption in governance as top achievements.

ALSO READ: Narendra Modi: Governance and that Hindutva image

"I think there are perceptible signs of improvement in the ease of doing business. We have also seen some important policy changes, like the Bankruptcy Code Bill, the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy and the Startup India policy, which are reflective of this government's intent to enable economic growth. What we need now is a bigger push in the investment policy in manufacturing to make it viable for Make in India to succeed," said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon.

ALSO READ: Report Card: Two years of Modi Government

Sajjan Jindal, chairman of JSW Steel, said, "During my travels abroad, I clearly see that government's diplomacy has led to a rise in India's stature at the global stage."

Among the negatives, CEOs cited the inability to build consensus on the goods and services tax, inability to tackle the black money issue, and inability to handle the Opposition. Chairman of Videocon Industries, Venugopal Dhoot said the stability of the rupee and increased spending in infrastructure are indicators of good governance. "India is the only country in the world growing at 7.5 per cent according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This shows our economy is on the right track," said Dhoot. Read more.