BRICK BY BRICK
Plans and programmes are in place but execution has been a problem. The big strides have been in housing for the poor and increased connectivity
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign revolved primarily around one theme— development. Four years later, five ministries pushing forward his agenda have got their plans and programmes in place but execution has left a gap between intent and performance. Of course, massive tangible changes are not possible in just four years. Yet, what is encouraging is the competitive spirit among ministers to deliver results. For instance, minister of state (independent charge) for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, just nine months old in the ministry, constantly monitors the progress of the flagship programmes under his ministry and acts promptly whenever he receives complaints. Yet some programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission have seen limited progress due to low budgetary allocation, failure of urban local bodies (ULBs) to generate funds and long gestation periods. Similarly, rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar takes pride in the monitoring mechanism installed to track the stages of construction of rural homes and roads. One of the biggest contributions of the Modi government has been integrating the Northeast in the development discourse. The Union government may have taken away the special state category from the states, but has done a commendable job on increasing road, rail and air connectivity in the region.
However, the government has done little to make development inclusive. Despite several schemes to reach out to SCs and STs, the unabated incidents of violence against Dalits continue to haunt the government. Another nonperforming ministry is the ministry of environment, which has seen little progress after the exit of Prakash Javadekar. The biggest challenge for the government, however, is finding a permanent solution to the dangerously high levels of pollution in the national capital. The government has made special budgetary allocation to tackle pollution in Delhi, but there is much to do on the ground.