30 days of Modi Sarkaar

On May 26, 2014 the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government came into power. Its been only 30 days and the Modi-sarkaar is already facing an
expectation load. In the past 30 days, Mr Modi has made his presence felt at the global stage but
in the domestic front the government has been subjected to a lot of controversies. Education
qualifications of the new HRD minister Smiriti Irani; the bizarre use-morality-instead-ofcondoms statement of the new Health Minister; lack of accountability of a junior minister facing
serious sexual assault charges in Rajasthan; directive to promote Hindi, which gave ammunition
to critics to accuse the BJP of linguistic chauvinism; the Delhi University-UGC standoff that has
left thousands of students uncertain; and the government's crude willingness to threaten and
bamboozle governors and politically appointed heads of various government agencies to make
way for BJP loyalists are some of the controversies BJP was involved in. However, no
government is free of controversies and it is too early to judge the performance of the
government.
The larger trend that is visible in the first 30 days of the government is the very hands-on
approach to governance by the Prime Ministers Office. The advantage of such an approach is
that it speeds up decision making and helps avoid inter-ministerial logjam. Modi has created
three rings around a cabinet minister the minister of state, the personal secretary and
minister's personal staff, all appointees of the PMO to prevent scams from happening. Also, a
direct line of communication between the PM and top bureaucrats has been established. The
government has announced a single-window clearance system for capital-intensive steel, coal
and power projects, a new urban renewal mission and a smoother labor compliance reporting
system. The administration has been told to speed up the process of clearing files. Stressing on
cleaner working environment and reconstructing of administrations working hours are some of
the positive steps taken by the Prime Minister.
The Cabinet took an important positive decision to form an SIT to unearth black money stacked
abroad and there were reports that the Swiss authorities are preparing a list of names of people
who have black money in Swiss Banks. However, no word from Switzerland has been heard yet.
Modi has stretched out to help Kashmiri Pandits by ensuring that they return back safely to their
homes. Many believe his plan to accentuate return of Kashmiri Pandits by setting of three
exclusive towns in south, centre and north Kashmir for the community may backfire, for want of
preparations. But, there is still a lot more assurances needed on the governments part for their
safe homecoming.
The governments key focus should be on improving manufacturing competitiveness and
providing basic infrastructure. However, the capital city Delhi witnessed a period of power
shortage which resulted in a familiar political blame game but not much relief for the poor and
middle-class of the city. Increase in railway fares and rising vegetable prices have added to a
common mans misery. While some have argued that the motive behind the bold decision to
increase the railway fare was improvement in the financial health of the Railways, it is also
likely to impact on inflation and therefore further increase the sufferings of the poor people of

the country. However, the Finance Minister is expected to present his first budget in the second
week of July. This will make the policy orientation of the new government clearer. Till then one
can say there has been some good moves in foreign policy.
The Modi Meter, however, faces stiff challenges in term of a weak monsoon, Iraq crisis that may
spur oil prices and continuing public outcry in the wake of tough decisions to revive economy.
Lets hope that a common mans hope for aache din isnt far away.
Akanksha Sharma
215/CO/12