In not very distant memory, one heard the clarion calls for a change heralded by the euphoria and hope, generated from the promising and inspirational speeches by the now prime minister Narendra Modi. He played the piped piper and the country followed him aspiring and dreaming all over again.
They did not disappoint him, for the first time in 25 years, we had a government who did not have to look left or center to garner support for law making. Personally I was never a fan of Modi’s instant noodle solutions. Though I did believe if he could deliver even a tenth of what he promised the change would be worth all the hooplah!
Changing the course of a juggernaut like India was never going to be a year’s task, but setting off on a course in that direction and without any rhetoric was all I expected. Solutions to our biggest problems lie in taking a host of anti-popular decisions including phased removal of subsidies, addressing abolition of reservations, rationalisation of the tax policy, judicial reforms for a quicker justice system,  streamlining laws that hinder businesses and accountability in the executive in that order.
I can go on with my wish list but these in a nutshell can take address the key problems of our country and give results faster than you can imagine. A government with complete majority is well placed to implement these policies and no person in his right mind will undermine their importance. Public outcry is still a factor the government of the day would have to deal with as most of these decisions would be un-popular.
Well, the Modi government is dealing with a lot of outcry anyways, but for all the wrong reasons. Fortunately still, an majority of people who did canvass for him among friends and family are yet to denounce him but the inaction has sown the  seeds of despair and doubt. The government did make some right noises with a lot of wrong ones.
Among the right ones include “Make in India”. Personally, I run a business and pay about Rs. 70.00 lacs in taxes to the local body alone, which incidentaly is run by the BJP. Apparently I pay this tax for Water, Power and Roads they must provide.
Fact is I don’t have a tarred road to my factory, which by the way can be built for an investment for seven lacs. I don’t have a fresh water connection to my factory and is fed by tankers from the water mafia and ofcourse I do have a generator for obvious reasons. All of this in a place within 60 kilometers of the metropolis of Mumbai. I dread to think of what is happening elsewhere. What do I make in India Mr. Modi and how do I make it competitive for a global market?
Several regimes including the current one has crippled the competitiveness of the Indian industry by the protective policy of anti-dumping duty allowing the local manufacturing to a charge higher price for their produce. In essence these policies have crippled the local industry making them incompetent and sent costs spiralling for consumers. Governments have made the industry addicts to this policy leaving less need for competitiveness while depriving the population with cheaper produce. Much like what reservation did to the protected few.
Here is a case in point. China imports iron ore from India, processes it to Steel and sells it back to India. India still needs to charge an anti-dumping duty to protect the local industry from this imported steel so they can fight the Chinese pricing and stay afloat. You can only imagine what is happening to the cost of manufacturing in India thanks to the incompetent business environment.
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar introduced a ten year policy for reservation for certain communities to empower them. Well the policy was good, till one forgot it was meant for ten years and no more. For the past sixty-five years governments have given ten year extentions to the policy to protect their vote banks at the cost of the very voters themselves. After three generations of reservations, not much has changed for them. Is it not high time we rethink the policy on the whole? Once again the protected have become parasites to a systematic infusion of addiction by the political class.
The government of the day is busy feeding meat or banning beef in some or the other part of the country. And by the way, I am a Jain myself, atleast by birth, please tell me which Jain forum asked the government to extend the meat ban? This was a decision taken purely to generate political brownie points by a BJP desperate to protect its electorate who in turn ended up being embarrassed for something they never had anything to do with in the first place.
Other than all the goodwill trips abroad the prime minister has been busy managing and in some cases even engineering controversies. Starting with the educational qualifications of Smriti Irani, appointment of Hindu fanatic Giriraj Singh as a minister, the land acquisition ordinance, judicial standards and accountibility bill, film censorships, changing text books, granting visas to Lalit Modi and ofcourse putting and lifting bans meat and beef. Incidentaly a lot of these controversies do have a religious color, something which was never the strong point of the man in any case.
Mr. Prime minister if you have the proverbial “56 Inch Chest” you claimed, do what you must. Thanks to a defeated opposition mere lip service was enough to get here, but no more. We want action, and the country is waiting in hope.