MODI PLANS MAJOR GOVERNANCE REFORMS

The PM believes technology to be the key towards the empowerment of the citizen vis-à-vis the state.

Now that he has completed two years in office as Prime Minister, those with regular access to Narendra Modi say that he has “mastered the processes of government at the all-India level”, in the manner accomplished at the state level during the same period in his 2001-14 term as Chief Minister of Gujarat. “The next two years will see an acceleration in the transformation of the governance mechanism” into a model suited to the 21st century rather than to the 19th, as is the present construct. During Election Year 2019, the expectation is that the (by then fully deployed) “AllIndia Modi Model of Governance” will have the same pulling power over voters as the state-level model demonstrated in the course of three successive Assembly elections in Gujarat. These sources say that the Prime Minister’s objective is to ensure that “the entire population tastes the benefits of growth” through raising the quarter of the population now below the poverty line. This is possible “only in a climate of intellectual freedom and liberal values”, contrary to what his detractors claim, which is that Modi is a “centraliser”, who seeks to ensure governmental control rather than allow freedom to the citizen. “The PM is emphatic that the duty of the government is to enable and not block”, a key source claimed, adding that “empowering each citizen is the only way in which the full potential of the nation can be reached”. This is in contrast to some within the BJP, who have grown comfortable with the colonial model of government preserved from pre-Independence days by Jawaharlal Nehru and his successors thus far. During the next two years, “the Prime Minister will ensure that his citizen-empowering approach towards governance becomes the norm in administration”, rather than the fetish for control over the citizen that has been a feature of governance in India since the Mughal period.

Narendra Modi believes technology to be the key towards such an empowerment of the citizen vis-à-vis the state. In particular, the spread of the internet and an acceleration in its speeds will be a priority during the coming years. “Slow internet speeds, insufficient coverage and even such problems as call drops are having a negative effect on progress”, a senior official warned, promising that “such deficiencies will soon be as much a thing of the past as the rarity and delays in telephone services in India two decades back”. Another asked why, in this age of technological advancement, was it still necessary for a citizen to search for housing on foot rather than online? Why was it still need-