one year of the modi government: a performance assessment

May 2015

One Year of the Modi Government: A Performance Assessment

AICC Research and Coordination Committee

Reference E-book

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

INDEX

1. Ek Saal, Desh Badhaal 1 - 5

2. Narendra Modi’s Anti-farmer Agenda 6 - 13

3. Mismanagement of the Economy 14 - 21

4. Social Sector Programmes on the Chopping Block 22 - 27

5. Ministry of Human Resource Destruction? 28 - 33

6. Enternal Affairs and Defence Mess 34 - 41

7. Conclusion 42 - 46

8. ‘Crass’ Word 47 - 48

1. Introduction 1-5

2.. Mismanagement of the Economy 6-17

3. Narendra Modi’s Anti Farmer Agenda 18-22

4. Social Sector Programmes on the Chopping Board 23-28

5. Ministry of Human Resource Destruction 29-34

6. External Affairs and Defence Mess 35-41

7. Conclusion 42-45

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INTRODUCTIONThe BJP-led NDA government completes one year in office on May 26, 2015. Many congratulations to the Prime Minister and his government on this important milestone. But 365 days of the NDA government have left the nation thoroughly disappointed and heavily disillusioned. Narendra Modi came to power rid-ing on lofty promises and grand declarations. These promises remain unfulfilled. The NDA government has only made a mockery of the hopes and aspirations of the common man.

The highlights of the first year of the Modi govern-ment have been its reversing stand on key issues like Goods and Services Tax (GST), Insurance Bill, Land Border Agreement with Bangladesh (LBA), etc, its world record at breaking the promises it made during the election campaign and its tactic to rename and plagiarize initiatives introduced by the Congress-led UPA government.

U-TURN SARKARThe only progress the NDA government can boast of in its first year have been the fruits of the legacy of the Congress-led UPA that were stonewalled for years or rejected outright by the BJP while in opposition. It is shocking to see the alacrity with which this govern-ment is reversing its stand on key policies without any hesitation or explanation. This hypocrisy only makes one wonder whether India’s progress was stalled be-cause the BJP was more keen on playing disruptive politics instead of being a responsible and construc-tive opposition during the UPA decade. During UPA-II, a colossal 890 of the 1344 hours of Parliament were lost, mainly due to disruptions by the BJP.

When the UPA introduced the Insurance Bill, the BJP refused to support it. On coming to power, the BJP not only promulgated an ordinance on this issue, the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill was being champi-oned as an important insurance reform instituted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The same goes for the GST Bill which was on the leg-islative agenda of the UPA for years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he was Chief Minister of Gu-jarat, had led the charge of BJP-ruled states in strate-gically blocking GST. Now the NDA government has reversed its position and is taking credit for instituting India’s most important tax reform.

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The same story continues with the LBA with Ban-gladesh. When former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had finalised the agreement with Prime Min-ister Sheikh Hasina, the BJP had vehemently opposed this piece of legislation. Now, Modi sarkar, is thrilled that the LBA sailed through parliament unanimously, without a single amendment.

FDI in retail has met the same fate. When in Opposi-tion, the BJP had vociferously protested against FDI in retail. In fact, the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections had said that “barring the multi-brand retail sector, FDI will be allowed in sectors wherever needed

for job and asset creation, infrastructure and acqui-sition of niche technology and specialised expertise.” Yet, when the NDA government released its consol-idated FDI policy, it stuck to the UPA government’s decision.

The Modi government continued its streak of dizzying u-turns with its stance on the Nuclear Deal. While in Opposition, the BJP, along with other opposition par-ties, tried to bring down the UPA government by ral-lying against the Nuclear deal calling it anti-national. Now, PM Modi calls it the ‘centerpiece’ of the India- US relationship.

MAXIMUM NOISE, MINIMUM GOVERNANCEThe BJP came to power by making lofty promises and selling unrealistic dreams. It promised a turnaround of the country. But one year later all we have is a gov-ernment taking dizzying u-turns and breaking the promises it had made to the people of India. The NDA government has displayed blatant opportunism and irresponsible governance. We have seen how promises

made during elections were mere gimmicks or in the words of BJP President Amit Shah, ‘chunavi jumlas,’ and not concrete and actionable agenda items. These broken promises have exposed the doublespeak of the BJP central leadership and the lack of vision and di-rection of this government.

MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMYDuring the election campaign, Modi portrayed him-self as the sole possible saviour of the Indian economy. But indicators suggest that in just one year, the NDA government has adversely affected India’s economic health and crippled major sectors of the economy.

In spite of having the tremendous good fortune of low crude oil prices, it has ruthlessly cut allocations for

social sector programs. It has also failed to do justice to the rural economy which serves 70% of our pop-ulation and has neglected the agrarian sector, which constitutes 15-17% of the economy.

This government has also revised the fiscal deficit tar-get upwards from 3.6% of GDP to 3.9% of GDP.

BLACK MONEY PROMISE ONLY A ‘JUMLA’The biggest U-turn of the Modi sarkar was over its grand promise to bring back black money within 100 days of assuming power, to publish the names of all Indians who had illegal bank accounts overseas and to deposit Rs. 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account out of the black money that returned to India.

While the UPA Government had signed treaties with more than 80 countries to facilitate the return of black money to India, the BJP created a smokescreen of wrongdoing and hoodwinked the people of In-dia with the promise of bringing back a supposed 85 lakh crores rupees. Rajnath Singh gave a deadline of

100 days to bring black money back and Modi gave a “personal commitment” to bring it back “by forming a task force and amending legislation” and pledging to “distribute 15 lakhs in every Indian’s bank account”.However, on coming to power the Finance Minister said he has no information about black money and that he could give no time frame for bringing it back.

The NDA government has still not apologised for its political dishonesty and for misleading the nation. This shocking admission makes the voter question how many of the promises made by Modi were just ‘jumlas’.

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COLD SHOULDER TO THE SOCIAL SECTOR

In contrast, the harsh reality of the last one year has been sputtering industrial growth, agriculture in dis-tress and service sectors seeing uneven growth. It is also evident that the government is trying to hide be-hind the façade of its revised GDP numbers.

More recently, as a rude “1st anniversary gift” petrol and diesel prices were hiked yet again by Rs 3.13 and Rs 2.71. During election rallies, Modi promised 10 crore jobs in 5 years. As per this promise, one would expect that 2 crore jobs would be created at the end of his first year. In contrary, the country has seen neg-

ative job growth. The quarter between October and December 2014 registered a slowdown in job growth from 1.82 lakhs in April-June 2014 to 1.17 lakhs.Amidst all the hype and noise of this government’s grand promises, the cry for help from farmers and ru-ral workers and the call for reforms from industries remain neglected.

Instead, what we have seen is a Government work-ing with the sole agenda of only helping a few of its friends and funders.

The Modi government came to power on the plank of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’. But what we have seen over the past year reaffirms our fears that this government is keen on catering to the needs of corporates and pri-vate firms at the cost of the poor.

The NDA government’s budget saw an approximate-ly Rs. 66,222 crore reduction in allocations for social sector schemes, thus adversely affecting the welfare of economically backward and socially disadvantaged individuals.

The government has slashed social sector spending. Major cuts can be seen across all sectors: from health,

women and child welfare, to panchayati raj, rural de-velopment, agriculture. SC and ST Sub Plan, and MN-REGA.

Ignoring the needs of children belonging to backward regions, Modi government will no longer provide funding for major schemes like setting up 6000 model schools and the Backward Region Grant Fund.

These measures have sought to dilute all the good work undertaken by the UPA government, when 15 Crore people were pulled out of poverty in a span of 10 years.

MISHANDLING THE HRD MINISTRYUnder the NDA government, the HRD ministry has been in the news only for the controversies it has gen-erated. The Smriti Irani-led ministry has spent more time in igniting fires and fire fighting rather than on policy matters.

This government has impinged on the autonomy of institutions, weakened the IITs, focussed on the Sangh Parivar’s agenda of saffronization of education

and displayed a complete lack of vision.

The Ministry has politically triggered resignations and has made appointments based solely on the loy-alty to the Saffron cause. The financial backbone for education has also been crippled by this government. The overall education budget is down from Rs 82,771 cr to Rs 69,074 cr.

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HOLLOW PROMISES, SHALLOW POLICIES

BREAKING PROMISES OF TRANSPARENCYAnother poll promise of the BJP was to deliver trans-parent governance. But the NDA government has shown utter disrespect to institutions. An indefinite delay in appointments to vital constitutional and stat-utory bodies like the Central Information Commis-sion, Central Vigilance Commission, Chief Election Commission by the government shows excessive cen-tralization of power by the Modi government.

It has also become a norm with this government to not make appointments to crucial institutional po-sitions, to dilute acts like the RTI by devious means and to fiscally emasculate autonomous organizations. Clearly, the Modi government is doing all this so it can serve its crony corporate friends at the cost of the ordinary Indian with impunity.

CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS GALORE, LOOSE TALK ABROADDuring the UPA government, BJP leaders had ac-cused the then government of “not being effective in safeguarding” Indian soil from incursions. The record of the Modi government in this regard has left much to be desired and has laid bare its incompetence in safeguarding our borders. There were 562 ceasefire vi-olations in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, the highest in eleven years. 2015 has been no different and has already witnessed 164 ceasefire violations.

Further, when an Indian PM goes abroad, he or she is beyond partisan politics and speaks for all of India. In an unprecedented departure from this norm, PM Modi has regularly used foreign platforms to pursue divisive domestic political agendas. His recent damag-ing statements in Korea about Indians being ashamed of their nationality until he became PM has hurt the sentiments of every proud Indian and betrays an ex-traordinary ignorance of India’s history and growth.

Some of the big- ticket schemes announced by the Modi government have turned out to be nothing more than empty slogans. PM Modi has pitched his pet projects - Make in India, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, etc., at every opportune moment but has very little to show when it comes to concrete progress.

The Swacch Bharat Abhiyan is nothing more than a photo opportunity for many ministers and MPs. It continues to remain a superficial project that does not address underlying and difficult institutional issues.

With respect to Smart Cities, the Modi government needs to first define the concept of a smart city before

it embarks on its mission to create 100 smart cities. The Urban Development Minister, in November 2014, admitted that it is hard to define smart cities and the government continues to remain vague in its strategy to implement this mega project.

The Make in India project has proved to be another fallacy of the Modi government. While it has gone ahead with mega shows and event management the-atrics, the government has taken no concrete steps to address the challenges of building global competitive-ness in manufacturing. Further, PM Modi’s unilater-al Rafale deal with France, has, in one step, quashed years of negotiations aimed at tying defence purchases with production in India.

NAME CHANGERS, NOT GAME CHANGERS One of the prime tactics of the NDA government in the past year has been to rename and plagiarize ini-tiatives introduced by earlier governments solely to take credit. It has spent most of its time on perception management and media manipulation rather than on governance.

A variety of schemes like Skill India, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Teachers Training Programme, Atal

Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Rural Electrifica-tion Programme, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban mission. Jan Dhan Yojana, Namami Ganga, Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan are re-named versions of schemes introduced earlier by the UPA government. Even the three recent social securi-ty schemes announced by the Modi government are rehashed versions of UPA schemes.

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CONCLUSIONThis document aims to expose the true track record of the Modi government. It reveals the reality behind the mask of lies and false promises. It explores the per-formance of the BJP-led NDA government across key sectors during its first year of government. Based on the sector-wise analysis, we find that the Acche Din promised by the Modi government is only a mirage

that has cheated the citizens and left the country in jeopardy. What we have seen instead is 365 days rid-dled with lies, misgovernance and broken promises. Keeping this in mind, the first year of the BJP-led NDA government can be best summarized as Ek Saal, Desh Badhaal.

GOVERNMENT APATHY LEADING TOCRIPPLING AGRARIAN CRISIS

The BJP during its election campaign focused heavily on farmers’ issues but has done a complete U-turn by consistently adopting anti-farmer policies. Farmers unions are agitating against the anti-farmer policies adopted by the BJP ever since it came to power.

The BJP manifesto promised to implement the Swa-minathan Committee’s recommendation that farmers be given a Minimum Support Price (MSP) that is at least 50% over the cost of production. So far, the NDA government has taken no action to honour this prom-ise. On the contrary instead of increasing MSP by 50% it has increased it by a meagre Rs 50. There has also

been a 26 per cent increase in farmer suicides over the past year. Rural wages in India have registered an average annual growth of 3.8 per cent in November, 2014, the lowest since July 2005.

Most importantly, in looking to cater to the needs of his crony capitalist friends, the Prime Minister is fo-cused entirely upon grabbing the Farmer’s most priced and basic possession - his land. The Narendra Modi government is seeking to take the ‘heart and soul’ out of the UPA’s 2013 Land Acquisition Act Amendment by catering to the interests of corporates over farmers.

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MISMANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY

OVERVIEW

UPA sets India on a solid foundation

During the UPA decade, India witnessed its highest ever economic growth, an average of 7.6 per cent, de-spite a global recession. Under the able leadership of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Congress led government created a stable and solid economic platform at a time when the rest of the world was reeling from a crip-pling financial crisis. Per capita income rose almost by three-fold from Rs. 24,143 in 2004 to Rs. 68,747 in 2012. Through a variety of initiatives and rights-based legislation, the UPA created financial inclusion and a social safety net. As a result, a historic 14 crore people were lifted out of poverty.

NDA squanders its opportunity

In contrast, over just one year, the NDA government has adversely affected India’s economic health and crippled major sectors of the economy. In spite of having the good fortune of low crude oil prices, it has ruthlessly cut allocations for social sector programs.

The latest Economic Financial Report published by the Ministry of Finance shows the dismal state of In-dian economy under the BJP led NDA government.

It has failed to do justice to the rural economy which serves 70% of our population and has neglected ag-riculture, which contributes 15-17% to the economy.

The GVA at basic prices (Gross Value Added is the value of goods and services produced in an area) for agriculture has come down to a dismal 1.1% in 2014-15 against 3.7% in 2013-14. This fall in production has led to a steep rise in imports and shows that even pro-grammes that Prime Minister Modi has emphasised, e.g., Make in India, have not been able to achieve their goals. Modi’s apathy towards agriculture can be clear-ly cited as the main reason behind the fall in agricul-tural production.

Eight infrastructure industries registered a contrac-tion of 0.1% in March 2015 against a growth of 4% in March 2014.

“In the last few years, our economy has not done as badly in reducing poverty as some people will have us believe…. It was due to the fast GDP growth of the five-year period from 2005-2006 to 2011-12 during which the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government was in office," Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister

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Even the gross fixed capital formation(% of GDP), an indicator of assets created(roads, railways, buildings, plants, equipment and the like), has declined from 31.4% in 2012-13 to 28.6% in 2014-15.

This government has also revised the fiscal deficit tar-get upwards from 3.6% of GDP to 3.9% of GDP. This is hardly a model of fiscal discipline. Instead of a bal-anced growth, what we have seen so far is growth on paper aided by a fall in global crude oil prices. The harsh reality of the last one year is that industrial growth is sputtering, agriculture is suffering and ser-vice sectors are seeing uneven growth.

It is also evident that the government is trying to hide behind the façade of its revised GDP numbers. The new GDP numbers are not in-line with the common

growth proxies such as industrial output, bank cred-it and corporate profits. The new real GDP number which is now projected at 7.5-8.2% would have been 5.3-5.7% as per the old calculation.

Both the government’s Chief Economic Adviser and the RBI governor have gone on to suggest that these numbers are confusing.

Amidst all the hype and noise of this government’s grand promises, the cry for help from farmers and rural workers and the call for reforms from indus-tries remain neglected. Instead, what we have seen is a Government working with the sole agenda of only helping a few of its friends and funders. It is indeed a Suit Boot Ki Sarkar serving crony capitalists instead of the people of India.

Ek saal gift from Modi- Petrol/diesel price hike

The hike in petrol and diesel prices was the Modi government’s “first anniversary gift” to the people. In May, 2015, petrol and diesel prices were hiked twice. Petrol price on 15th May was hiked by Rs 3.13 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.71 per litre. This was the second straight steep increase in rates this month. On 1 May, petrol price was raised by Rs 3.96 per litre while diesel had become dearer by Rs 2.37 a litre.

The two unprecedented petrol/diesel price hikes with-in 15 days have dealt a body blow to the common man and farmers who are already reeling under high infla-tionary pressure.

The hikes are unfathomable on all accounts- especially since the Government and Oil Marketing Companies will be making a windfall gain amounting to more than Rs 2,30,000 crores even as the common man is made to pay.

Prices of food continue to be high

Heartless apathy towards agriculture is evident from the fact that government procured only 54.4 million tonnes of grains(rice and wheat) in 2014-15 against 72.2 million tonnes in 2012-13. Stocks in FCI have de-clined by a whopping 10.6% to 56.5 million tonnes on May 1, 2015 compared to 63.1 million tonnes on the same day last year. Agriculture which made a healthy recovery to 3.7% growth in 2013-14 declined to 1.1% in 2014-15. Total food grains produced fell to 251 mil-lion tonnes from 265.6 million tonnes in 2013-14. All these factors have contributed to a rise in food imports and thereby increasing the food prices apart from dis-couraging the farmer to continue agriculture.

The PM had spoken about a “Protein Revolution” where pulses would become available to every Indi-an. But pulses are selling at Rs 125/Kg, milk is at Rs 50/litre and prices of fruits and vegetables are sky-rocketing. The burden is on the common man. The Government’s frequent increases in diesel prices, have inevitably led to increase in prices of essential commodities like fruits and vegetables and pulses.

To add to the woes of the common man, the Govern-ment came with a shocking announcement of “Kadvi Goli” (bitter pill) to bring in “acche din”.

COMMON MAN FORGOTTEN

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Table 3: Production of Major Agricultural Crops (3rd Adv. Est.) Crops Production (in Million Tonnes)

2012-13 (Final)

2013-14 (Final)

2014-15 (3rd AE)

Total Foodgrains 257.1 265.6 251.1 Rice 105.2 106.7 102.5 Wheat 93.5 95.9 90.8 Total Coarse Cereals 40.0 43.3 40.4 Total Pulses 18.3 19.8 17.4

Total Oilseeds 30.9 32.8 27.4 Sugarcane 341.2 352.1 356.6 Cotton 34.2 35.9 35.3

Table 4 : Procurement in Million Tonnes Crop 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 Rice# 34.2 35.0 34.0 31.8 26.3* -- Wheat@ 22.5 28.3 38.2 25.1 28.0 22.5⃰ Total 56.7 63.4 72.2 56.9 54.4 22.5 # Kharip Marketing Season (October-September), @ Rabi Marketing Season (April-March), * Position as on 08.05.2015

Table 5: Off-Take and Stocks of Food Grains (Million Tonnes) Off-take Stocks

Crops 2011-12 2012-13

2013-14

2014-15 May 1, 2014 May 1, (Till Feb.) 2015

1. Rice 32.1 32.6 29.2 30.3 20.4 17.0 2. Unmilled Paddy# 12.3 8.0 3. Converted Unmilled Paddy in terms of Rice

8.2 5.3

4. Wheat 24.3 33.2 30.6 24.6 34.4 34.1 Total (Rice & Wheat)(1+3+4)

56.4 65.9 59.8 54.9 63.1 56.5

# Since September, 2013, FCI gives separate figures for rice and unmilled paddy lying with FCI & state agencies in terms of rice.

Table 6: Percentage Change in Index of Industrial Production Industry Group April-March, 2013-14 April-March, 2014-15 March-2014 March-2015 General index -0.1 2.8 -0.5 2.1 Mining -0.6 1.4 0.5 0.9 Manufacturing -0.8 2.3 -1.3 2.2 Electricity 6.1 8.4 5.4 2.0 Basic goods 2.1 6.9 4.6 2.3 Capital goods -3.6 6.2 -11.5 7.6 Intermediate goods 3.1 1.6 1.3 1.9 Consumer goods -2.8 -3.5 -2.2 -0.7

Durables -12.3 -12.5 -11.8 -4.7 Non-durables 4.8 2.8 5.0 1.9

Production of foodgrains declined to 251 million tonne (MT) in 2014-15 from 265.6 MT in 2013-14. Procurement of rice and wheat declined to 54.4 MT from 72.2 MT in 2012-13.

Service tax increase – inflationary and regressive

Increase in service tax will hit the middle class and lower middle class. The middle class was expecting dividends on their investment in the BJP which yield-ed 282 seats. However what they got in return was an increase in the service tax. Mr. Jaitely hiked service tax to 14 per cent from the earlier 12 per cent and pro-posed additional cesses for Swachh Bharat, etc. This

tax hike is a regressive move which hurts the poor substantially. Further it is bound to create inflationary pressure.

By removing several exemptions, the Finance Minis-ter could have rationalised the service tax negative list as well as broadened the tax base. He has removed a few exemptions - but has also given many new exemp-tions.

RURAL ECONOMY AND POPULATION IN DISTRESSWith 800 million Indians living in rural areas, rural consumption was one of the pillars of growth ac-counting for 35% of the economy. However, the gov-ernment’s push towards industrialization is occurring at the cost of the rural economy. Rural incomes are declining under the NDA.

Increase in public investment in agriculture has not taken off although this is a requirement for long-term development of the sector. Long-term solutions like agricultural supply chain modernisation have re-ceived only lip service.

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TABLES

Table 1: Growth of GVA at Basic Prices by Economic Activity (at 2011-12 Prices) (in per cent)

Sector Growth Share in GVA

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15 (AE)

2012-13

2013-14

2014-15 (AE)

Agriculture, forestry & fishing 1.2 3.7 1.1 17.7 17.2 16.2 Industry 2.4 4.5 5.9 32.3 31.7 31.2

Mining & quarrying -0.2 5.4 2.3 3.0 3.0 2.9 Manufacturing 6.2 5.3 6.8 18.3 18.1 18 Electricity, gas ,water supply & other utility services 4.0 4.8 9.6 2.4 2.3 2.4 Construction -4.3 2.5 4.5 8.6 8.3 8

Services 8.0 9.1 10.6 50.0 51.1 52.6 Trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting 9.6 11.1 8.4 18 18.8 18.9

Financial, real estate & professional services 8.8 7.9 13.7 19.5 19.7 20.9 Public administration, defence and Other Services 4.7 7.9 9.0 12.5 12.6 12.8

GVA at basic prices 4.9 6.6 7.5 100.0 100.0 100.0 GDP at market prices 5.1 6.9 7.4 --- --- --- Source: CSO. AE: Advance Estimates.

Table 2: Quarter-wise Growth of GVA at Constant (2011-12) Basic Prices (in per cent) Sectors 2013-14 2014-15

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Agriculture, forestry & fishing 2.7 3.6 3.8 4.4 3.5 2.0 -0.4 Industry 4.8 4.0 5.0 4.3 6.1 6.0 3.9

Mining & quarrying 0.8 4.5 4.2 11.5 5.1 2.4 2.9 Manufacturing 7.2 3.8 5.9 4.4 6.3 5.6 4.2 Electricity, gas ,water supply & other utility services

2.8 6.5 3.9 5.9 10.1 8.7 10.1

Construction 1.5 3.5 3.8 1.2 5.1 7.2 1.7 Services 10.2 10.6 9.1 6.4 8.6 10.1 13.5

Trade, hotels, transport, communication and services related to broadcasting

10.3 11.9 12.4 9.9 9.4 8.7 7.2

Financial, real estate & professional services 7.7 11.9 5.7 5.5 11.9 13.8 15.9 Public administration, defence and Other Services

14.4 6.9 9.1 2.4 1.9 6.0 20.0

GVA at basic prices 7.2 7.5 6.6 5.3 7.0 7.8 7.5 Source: CSO.

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DECLINE IN AGRICULTURE GROWTHAgriculture growth is estimated at 1.1 per cent in fiscal year 2014-15, down from 3.7 per cent in the previous year. Budget allocations to the Ministry of Agriculture have been reduced from Rs 19,852 crore in the previ-ous year to Rs 17,004 crore now. Even the RSS-affili-ated farmers’ body — Bharatiya Kisan Sangh — has termed the budget as “discouraging for farmers”.

The Economic Survey gives potential solutions but budget has not followed through. It says, “Agriculture and food sectors need huge investment in research, education, extension, irrigation, fertilisers, and lab-oratories to test soil, water, and commodities, and warehousing and cold storage. Rationalisation of sub-sidies and better targeting of subsidies would generate part of the resources for public investment.’’

The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) is credited with pushing agricultural growth to an average rate of 4.06 per cent during 2009-14. Allocation to RKVY has

been slashed from Rs 9,954 crore (Budget Estimate 2014-15) to Rs 4,500 crore in 2015-16. Allocation to agriculture research has been revised from Rs 6,144 cr to Rs 4,884 cr for the year 2015-16.

Exports of Wheat, Rice and Corn are likely to see a decrease of nearly 29% or 135 lakh tons in 2014-15. Even the area under cultivation is seeing a net reduc-tion of 33.22 lakh hectares in 2014-15.

With the BJP having put its principal political prom-ise of MSP 50% above input costs in the dustbin of false political slogans, agricultural prices have seen a free fall. Price of Basmati Rice has fallen from Rs.6000-6500 per quintal in 2013-14 to Rs.3200-3300 per quintal in 2014-15. Prices of Fine Rice varieties have fallen from Rs.4400-4800 per quintal to Rs.2200-2400 per quintal. Even Cotton prices have fallen from Rs.5300-5500 per quintal to Rs.3800-4000, i.e., even below MSP.

Rice | 102.5 MT

3.9 %

Wheat | 90.8 MT

5.3 %

Cereals | 40.4 MT

6.7 %

Pulses | 17.4 MT

12.6 % Oil Seeds | 27.4 MT

16.8 %

Pulses| 35.3 MT

1.7 %

Total Foodgrain | 251.1 MT

5.4 %

PROCUREMENT

Rice (Oct-Sept.) | 26.3 MT

17.7 %

Wheat (April- May) | 28.0 MT

11.6 %

*Production of Major Agricultural Crops | Figures of 2014-15 Actuals vs. Figures 2013-14 Final | MT = Million Tonnes

Moreover, instead of a Minimum Support Price of 50% profits over input cost promised in the BJP mani-festo, the Modi government gave a minus 0.3% change in Minimum Support Price in October, the 7th lowest in 38 years.

Why it is important:

Rural demand acted like a cushion in the 2008 crisis when the urban demand was at an all-time low. With a staggering 800 million Indians living in rural areas, rural consumption was one of the pillars of growth accounting for 35% of the economy. Rural markets not only form a major part the Indian economy but the demand would also absorb impacts of unexpect-ed economic slowdown. The government ruthlessly

cut allocations for social welfare programs and failed to acknowledge the rural economy which constitutes 80% of our country, population wise.

Growth in rural wage dismal:

The rate of growth in the rural wages has declined to a paltry 3.8 percent in November 2014, lower than the annual consumer price inflation of 4.09 per cent for rural India. This translates into an eroding purchas-ing power of the rural populace – i.e. declining rural demand. Weak demand in India’s rural areas has con-tributed to a slowdown in economic growth in Octo-ber-December 2014 from 5.3 percent in the previous quarter.

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HIKE IN RAIL FREIGHT WILL IMPACT RAILWAYS, FARMERS AND INDUSTRIES NEGATIVELY


DELAY IN UREA IMPORTS

Urea imports between the months June-October, 2014-2015 did not happen in time for planting for the rabi season. Only 17.37 tonnes were imported as against 43.82 tonnes during the UPA rule in the pre-vious fiscal.

The fertiliser import data for April-December 2014 showed that India’s urea imports were down 4.3% year-on-year to 6.3 million tonnes. The shortfall was as high as 35% in April-October 2014.

The imports increased in November and December

Total Consumption

220-225 75-80 tonnes tonnes

Timing is of utmost importance as urea needs to be applied within 50 days of sowing. Due to the delay, by November, when the imports started, farmers had already planted their wheat, mustard and channa.

The Union Budget claims to encourage manufactur-ing by reducing the cost of raw materials. Contrary to this in the Railway Budget, the freight rates for Urea

has increased by 10%, coal by 6.3% and for iron and steel by 0.8% which will directly affect costs of raw material.

but this was too late because farmers had already planted their wheat, mustard or channa.

Apart from displaying a complete negligence towards a key sector as agriculture by delaying urea imports, the domestic production of urea was also hampered because of the government’s unwillingness to contin-ue subsidising naphtha-based urea production. Fail-ure of Union Government to pay Rs.30,000 crore of subsidy amount to domestic Urea manufacturers i.e. default of 95% of subsidy amount payable leading to closure of many local Urea units.

11

MODI GOVERNMENT’S ANTI-PEOPLE AGENDA EXPOSED

Social Sector funding slashed

Social Sector funding slashed: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget re-affirms this government’s anti-peo-ple agenda. The NDA budget saw an approximately Rs. 4.4 lakh crore reduction in the allocations for the social sector schemes. Jaitley’s budget cuts will result in a reduction in the flow of central funds to the states from Rs.3,38,408 crore in 2014-15 to Rs.2,04,784 crore in 2015-16.

Worsening inequalities across states

States get funds from the Centre in the form of tied and untied grants. In terms of overall shares of central revenues going to the states (tied and untied grants), states previously received 63% of overall tax revenues (of which 32% was untied grants). This year, the states’ total share of revenues has actually fallen to 62% (out of which 42% is untied grants).

The NDA government is trumpeting that it has de-volved more funds to the states by passing on 42% un-tied grants. First, this is a result of the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations. Second, by cutting


crucial support for centrally sponsored schemes and passing the burden onto the states, the increase in un-tied grants is nullified because states will end up being forced to allocate resources to crucial programmes where central funding has been cut.

Central schemes have been unbundled into three cat-egories in the budget. In Category A are schemes the Centre continues funding fully. Category B are pro-grammes that will have state and central funding but the Centre’s share will go down. Category C schemes will no longer have central support.

Comparing budget estimates of 2015-16 with those of 2014-15 shows that the fall in central funding to Cat-egory B and C schemes together is about Rs 66,000 crore. This can be compared with the Rs 64,000 crore that states gained in net transfers from the Centre, in-cluding tax devolution. This implies that whatever the states have to shell out for Category B and C schemes wipes out what they gain through fund transfer from the Centre.

The end result will be unequal development and ineq-uity in crucial human development outcomes across India’s states, hurting the backward regions the most.

• New 10 per cent congestion surcharge on base freight rates for port goods in November, 2014

• Haulage charges raised by 27 per cent in December 2014

• Transport and logistics costs for firms have increased, forcing them to pass the additional costs to customers

Source: Financial Express

Rail freight at 18 month low

12


EMPLOYMENT IN RUINS

The Modi government has diluted the Factories Act and Apprentices Act. Labour laws have undermined labour welfare schemes, thereby, making it easier for companies to fire workers. Trade unions with varied political affiliations (including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh) have joined forces to protest against the unilat-eral steps of the Modi government.

Moreover, wage growth has slowed to a paltry 3.8 %

in November 2014, the lowest growth since July 2005, which is lower than consumer inflation. Job growth in 8 key sectors, including labour intensive sectors such as leather and textiles has been tepid.

Overall, since Mr. Modi took over, job growth in these key sectors- textiles including apparel, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport, IT-BPO, handloom and powerloom- is on a declining trend.

• This is the lowest growth since July 2005- it proved lower than consumer inflation in the period

• Job growth in eight key sectors, including labout intensive sectors such as leather and textiles has been tepid.


Employment growth slows(% change in employment Quarter in Quarter)

CORPORATES AND INDUSTRIES LOSING CONFIDENCE IN MODI MAGIC

The NDA’s abrupt push to shift (or rather switch) the economy to industry and exports-based economy will

only prove disastrous in the long term with the early indicators already setting in. Eight core infrastructure

Credit slowdown in all sectors except beverages, tobacco and construction

February 2015:

• Non-food bank credit – 5.3 per cent drop• Industry more- 6 per cent drop• Services sectors- 10.1 per cent drop• Banking system’s lending to non-bank lenders-

7.6 per cent dropSource: Financial Express

Credit growth at 18 month low

13


Steel

4.4 %

Cement

4.2 %

Refinery Products

1.3 %

*Pro

duct

ion

Gro

wth

– M

arch

201

5 vs

. Mar

ch 2

014

India Inc seems to be losing its confidence in the Modi government. The investment community is clearly not satisfied with progress of the government. The pace of project clearance is no longer the only issue bothering India Inc.

Jim Rogers, a major foreign investor, said “I still own Indian shares, and I wonder if I should continue holding, because, after a year of no action, you be-gin to wonder if anything is going to happen.” Simi-

larly, Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC Bank said, “Nothing has changed on the ground” in terms of ease of doing business.

Captains of industry are now highlighting two new concerns: the recent notices from the taxmen and the seemingly unchecked Hindutva agenda of right wing groups. This is sending out a wrong signal to inves-tors at a time when the government is chasing funds, growth and development.

11

Table 7: Production Growth (Per Cent) in Core Infrastructure-Supportive Industries (Year-On-Year)

Industry Group April-March, 2013-14

April-March, 2014-15

March-2014 March-2015

Coal 1.3 8.2 0.6 6.0 Crude oil -0.2 -0.9 -1.6 1.7 Natural Gas -13.0 -5.2 -9.3 -1.5 Refinery Products 1.5 0.4 3.4 -1.3 Fertilizers 1.5 -0.1 -6.1 5.2 Steel 11.5 0.5 11.8 -4.4 Cement 3.1 5.6 0.4 -4.2 Electricity 6.0 8.0 5.4 1.7 Overall growth 4.2 3.5 4.0 -0.1

Table 8: Money Stock: Components and Sources (Rupees Billion)

tem Outstanding as on Variation over (%) 2015 Financial Year so

far Year-on-Year

March 31 May 1 2014-15

2015-16

2014 2015

M3 105,756.8 108,474.7 2.0 2.6 13.6 11.7 Components

Currency with the Public 13,869.9 14,310.2 3.8 3.2 9.6 10.6 Demand Deposits with Banks 8,963.5 9,287.6 3.0 3.6 14.2 11.0 Time Deposits with Banks 82,777.5 84,753.6 1.6 2.4 14.2 11.9 ‘Other’ Deposits with Reserve Bank 145.9 123.4 2.6 –15.4 –4.1 512.1

Sources Net Bank Credit to Government 30,151.2 31,542.1 0.4 4.6 9.7 3.2

Reserve Bank 3,734.1 4,298.3 Other Banks 26,417.1 27,243.8 3.1 3.1 11.9 12.7 Bank Credit to Commercial Sector 70,558.0 71,621.5 0.9 1.5 13.2 10.2

Reserve Bank 148.5 60.6 Other Banks 70,409.6 71,560.9 0.9 1.6 13.1 10.2 Net Foreign Exchange Assets of Banking Sector

22,021.1 23,002.3 2.6 4.5 20.6 16.5

Government's Currency Liabilities to the Public

194.4 194.4 0.8 – 12.8 11.3

Banking Sector's Net Non-Monetary Liabilities 17,168.0 17,885.6 –3.8 4.2 12.7 –2.8

Net Non-Monetary Liabilities of RBI

7,941.6 8,600.7 1.5 8.3 23.8 0.4

11

Table 7: Production Growth (Per Cent) in Core Infrastructure-Supportive Industries (Year-On-Year)

Industry Group April-March, 2013-14

April-March, 2014-15

March-2014 March-2015

Coal 1.3 8.2 0.6 6.0 Crude oil -0.2 -0.9 -1.6 1.7 Natural Gas -13.0 -5.2 -9.3 -1.5 Refinery Products 1.5 0.4 3.4 -1.3 Fertilizers 1.5 -0.1 -6.1 5.2 Steel 11.5 0.5 11.8 -4.4 Cement 3.1 5.6 0.4 -4.2 Electricity 6.0 8.0 5.4 1.7 Overall growth 4.2 3.5 4.0 -0.1

Table 8: Money Stock: Components and Sources (Rupees Billion)

tem Outstanding as on Variation over (%) 2015 Financial Year so

far Year-on-Year

March 31 May 1 2014-15

2015-16

2014 2015

M3 105,756.8 108,474.7 2.0 2.6 13.6 11.7 Components

Currency with the Public 13,869.9 14,310.2 3.8 3.2 9.6 10.6 Demand Deposits with Banks 8,963.5 9,287.6 3.0 3.6 14.2 11.0 Time Deposits with Banks 82,777.5 84,753.6 1.6 2.4 14.2 11.9 ‘Other’ Deposits with Reserve Bank 145.9 123.4 2.6 –15.4 –4.1 512.1

Sources Net Bank Credit to Government 30,151.2 31,542.1 0.4 4.6 9.7 3.2

Reserve Bank 3,734.1 4,298.3 Other Banks 26,417.1 27,243.8 3.1 3.1 11.9 12.7 Bank Credit to Commercial Sector 70,558.0 71,621.5 0.9 1.5 13.2 10.2

Reserve Bank 148.5 60.6 Other Banks 70,409.6 71,560.9 0.9 1.6 13.1 10.2 Net Foreign Exchange Assets of Banking Sector

22,021.1 23,002.3 2.6 4.5 20.6 16.5

Government's Currency Liabilities to the Public

194.4 194.4 0.8 – 12.8 11.3

Banking Sector's Net Non-Monetary Liabilities 17,168.0 17,885.6 –3.8 4.2 12.7 –2.8

Net Non-Monetary Liabilities of RBI

7,941.6 8,600.7 1.5 8.3 23.8 0.4

industries registered a contraction of 0.1% in March 2015 compared to 4% growth in March 2014. This

‘negative growth’ is due to a fall in production of natu-ral gas, refinery products, steel and cement.

14

Core sector at 10- year lowCore infra production (% Year on Year)

Infra sector forms 38 per cent of overall industrial pro-duction

March 2015:

• Steel production down by 4.4 per cent• Cement output reduced by 4.2 per cent• Refinery products down by 1.3 per cent• Natural Gas down by 1.5 per cent



• Raw materials-to-sales ratio- Lowest in 2 years 40 % for March 2015 quarter

• Cement- No growth in December quarter; bet profit slips to 26 per cent• Engineering companies- One full quarter of flat sales

• Lowest in 5 years- 8 core industrial sector growth at 3.5 per cent in FY 2015 (coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery, fertiliser, electricity, steel)

• Index of Industrial Production grew in March at 2.1 per cent against 4.9 per cent in February. Reason: Across-the-board slowdown in production

• Meager growth- Industrial production grew by a meager 1.7 per cent in De-cember quarter from the previous year.

• Lowest Minimum Support Price in 38 years- October, 2014• Food grain production fell by 3.2 per cent in 2014-15 to 256.7 million

tonnes• Major oilseed production to dip by 7.4 per cent to 30.4 million tonnes

• Exports fell by 11.19 per cent in January 2015 from the previous year. Decrease in outbound shipments

Cotton Yarn by 9.15 percent Pharmaceuticals by 0.16 per cent Chemicals by 10.52 per cent Jewellery by 3.73 per cent

15


• In May 2015, overseas investors reduced exposure to Indian capital markets withdrawing Rs. 12,000 crore

• Result: Steep fall in Sensex, Nifty, thereby, hurting small investorSource: Financial Express

Sensex surrenders gain FII Inflows slow downEquity and debt ($bn)

EMPTY SLOGANS

Smart City Before even the Modi government embarks on its mission to create 100 smart cities, it needs to first de-fine the concept of a smart city.

The Urban Development Minister, in November, 2014, admitted that it is hard to define smart cities and the government continues to remain vague in its strategy to implement this mega project.

At present, it is unclear what the government’s goals are beyond building a hundred new smart cities. What are the smart cities intended to achieve? Who are they intended for, and who will plan, build and govern them? After one year of announcing the proj-ect, why is there no clarity on implementation? Why didn’t the project warrant a mention in Jaitley’s bud-get? The Modi government needs to answer these per-tinent questions immediately.

SPOOKING THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR

The Income Tax Department, under Finance Minis-ter Arun Jaitley, has been indulging in tremendous dithering and inconsistencies on issues related to ret-rospective application of Minimum Alternative Tax on Foreign Institutional Investors. This confusion is spooking investors, affecting markets negatively and causing a fall in the value of the Indian Rupee.

As a result, overseas investors have pulled out over Rs. 12,000 crore from India so far this month. This has

resulted in steep falls and significant volatility in the Sensex and Nifty, hurting the small investor.

When India needs more investments and was being seen as an attractive destination, the NDA govern-ment’s tax terrorism has startled investors and hurt India’s prospects. At the same time, the inconsisten-cy, wavering and confusion on this matter sends very poor signals about Mr. Jaitley’s control over his tax department.

Make in India gone wrong

The Modi government has pitched the ‘Make in In-dia’ initiative at every opportune moment. However, despite the mega shows and event management, the government seems to have taken no steps to address

the challenges of building global competitiveness in manufacturing demands, restructuring of inverted tax structure, levelling the high cost of power, resolving the logistics nightmare and dismantling permission raj. Thus, its ‘Make in India’ initiative remains nothing more than a slogan.

16

Slow recovery from recession

Slow growth in other economies

Fall in crude oil prices

Import substitution traffic barriers

Higher consumer costs

MSMEs neglected

No ‘ease of doing business’

Excise duty hikes

Inability to curb imports

Desperate welfare spending cuts


This is evident from the fact that Merchandise exports have declined by a whopping 14% in April 2015 over April 2014. Manufacturing GVA growth has been constantly decreasing from 6.3% in Q1 to 5.6% in Q2 and 4.2% in Q3 of 2014-15 with construction also fall-ing sharply from 7.2 in Q2 to 1.7% in Q3.

The backbone of infrastrucrual and industrial devel-opment is steel and the production of steel serves as a good indicator to reflect on the same. While the gov-ernment pushes to ‘Make in India’ on-stage across the globe, the poor policy framework and unfavourable domestic climate is evident from the steel production

in the country which has declined by 4.4% in March 2015(yoy).

Steel production is affected by cheap imports and raw material issues from the past one year. The govern-ment has taken no action to fix these issues which has resulted in imports of steel being doubled over the past six months.

Electricity is a major input for the industries – but the electricity generation registered a contraction of 1.2% in April 2015 to 86.2 billion units from 87.2 billion units in April 2014.

Exports contracted to $23.88 billion in January 2015 as against $26.89 billion Year on Year

Commodities hit:

• Tea, coffee, rice, tobacco, rubber and spices also recorded a negative growth

• Cotton yarn, Pharma, Chemicals and Jewelery sector perform poorly


Exports refuse to rise(% Year on Year)

Another retrograde measure which shows this gov-ernment’s lack of understanding of economic issues and its poor coordination with its own other policies has been the proposed 1% inter-state tax in the GST bill. This tax on inter-state commerce runs against the spirit of the GST stands for and may well deal a heavy blow to the Make in India programme.

Are we still ‘Making in India’?

A recent example of the failure of Make in India pro-gramme is the way the NDA government dealt with the Rafale Jet deal. The NDA government ruined on-going negotiations by presenting France with an or-der for 36 Rafale fighters. This is in spite of Indian ne-gotiators making it clear to Dassault that it must lower

17


prices and increase indigenisation to win the Jet deal tender. This reflects poor strategy on the part of the current government as India has now given a harm-ful signal to the world – if they ignore India’s demand long enough and stand firm in their negotiations, In-dia will ultimately bend and cede to their terms and conditions. This deal will additionally mean that Hin-dustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will not be building 108 of the 126 fighters.

Additionally, each of the 36 Rafales now requested would alone cost $150-180 million dollars along with its basic armaments and payload. Paid out over seven years, that would add Rs 4,000-6,000 crore annually to the IAF capital budget, which already accounts for a third of all modernisation funds (Rs 31,818 crore out of Rs 94,583 crore in 2015-16). With this already a stretch, where is the scope for another $18-20-billion contract for 126 more Rafales?

12

Table 9: Scheduled Commercial Banks - Business in India

Items

Outstanding as on ( Rs. billion)

Year-on-year growth (%)

March 20, 2015 May 1, 2015 2014 2015 Bank Credit 65646.8 66799.6 13.4 10.5 Non-Food credit 64702.6 65758.7 - - Aggregate deposits 85856.4 88126.9 14.7 11.4 Investments in Government. and other approved securities

25052.4 25870.7 11.5 13.3

Table 10: Ratios and Rates( in percent) Item/Week Ended 2014 2015

May 2 May 1 Cash Reserve Ratio 4.00 4.00 Statutory Liquidity Ratio 23.00 21.50 Policy Repo Rate 8.00 7.50 Reverse Repo Rate 7.00 6.50 Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate 9.00 8.50 Bank Rate 9.00 8.50 Base Rate 10.00/10.25 9.75/10.25 Term Deposit Rate >1 Year 8.00/9.25 8.00/8.75 Savings Deposit Rate 4.00 4.00 Call Money Rate (Weighted Average) 8.58 7.53

Table 11: Exports and Imports (in US$ million) Item 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 April (P) % Change in April

2015 2014 2015 Exports 300401 314416 310534

25634 22055 -14.0 Imports 490737 450214 447548 35720 33047 -7.5

Oil imports 164041 164770 138262 12978 7443 -42.6 Non-Oil imports

326696 285443 309287 22742 25604 12.6 Trade

Balance -190336 -135798 -137014 -10086 -10992 9.0

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, P: Provisional.

Jan Dhan Yojna has failed to take off!

Prime Minister Modi’s has hailed his government’s success in pursuing financial inclusion through the Jan Dhan Yojana. However, the reality on the ground is far from the rosy picture being painted on paper.

Only 8,000 account holders i.e. 0.0000000025% of the total beneficiaries have availed of the overdraft (OD) facility under the Jan Dhan Yojana. So far, the over-draft facility has been sanctioned in only 40,000 ac-counts of a total 16 crore accounts, with only 8,000 availing of it. The average size of credit availed has stood at Rs 2,500, just half of the promised Rs 5,000.

Similarly, only 108 people i.e. 0.0000000069% of the total beneficiaries have availed of the accidental in-surance cover, while another 152 i.e. 0.0000000079% have taken the life insurance cover provided by the scheme.

Moreover, according to official data, 68.7 million ac-counts were opened under the scheme till October 31, of which 52.1 million had zero balance. As the num-bers clearly suggest, the goal of ensuring financial in-clusion is far from complete and instead of boasting about his government’s efforts and the pre-mature

success of the scheme, the government must focus on correcting several operational issues being faced by banks and account holders.

18


NARENDRA MODI’S ANTI FARMER AGENDA

In the mid-1960s, on the eve of the Green Revolution, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri proudly pro-claimed: “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.” In just 50 years, the BJP-led NDA government has cruelly cast aside the second half of this inspiring slogan. To paraphrase the BJP MP from Akola, the NDA government’s motto is “Die Kisan.”

The utter insensitivity of this Government is reflected in the statement of its Ministers and MPs. Union Min-ister Nitin Gadkari asked farmers not to be dependent on God or the Government. Instead of expressing empathy for their plight and showing compassion, Haryana Agriculture Minister O.P. Dhankar went to the extent of condemning farmers committing suicide as cowards.

BJP MP from Akola, Sanjay Dhotre said: “Let these farmers fend for themselves. If crops fail, they will figure out what to do. And if they die, let them die.” Eknath Khadse, Maharashtra’s Revenue Minister made even more shocking remarks. He said, “If the farmers have money to pay their mobile bills, then why they do not have money to pay their electricity bills?” All these statements clearly articulate the NDA government’s anti-farmer, anti-people agenda.

The Modi Sarkar is also determined to take the ‘heart and soul’ out of the UPA’s 2013 Land Acquisition Act

Amendment by catering to the interests of corpo-rates over farmers. The Prime Minister is leading the charge to take away the farmer’s most basic posses-sion – land – with the sole aim of giving it to his crony capitalist friends. This Suit Boot ki Sarkar fails to un-derstand that land is a matter of identity for us Indi-ans- its where we are born, where we grow up, where we belong. This Government is treating our identity and our most prized possession as a commodity for profiteering.

Prime Minister Modi, in his Mann Ki Baat aimed at farmers, stated that even when he travels abroad, he is thinking about India’s farmers and tribals. To which, a farmer countered with his earthy wisdom, “even when is in foreign countries he is thinking about how to take away the land of farmers and tribals.”

The BJP during its election campaign focused heavi-ly on farmers’ issues but has done a complete U-turn by consistently adopting anti-farmer policies. The BJP manifesto promised to implement the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendation that farmers be given a Minimum Support Price (MSP) that is at least 50% over the cost of production. So far, the NDA govern-ment has taken no action to honour this promise. On the contrary, instead of increasing MSP by 50% they increased it by a mere Rs 50.

INTRODUCTION

“…but how will we agree if the necks of farmers are to be cut for the gardens of a few indus-trialists to bloom with their blood? Farmers have only their land. Do not commit the sin of squeezing the throat of farm-ers.”

- Uddhav Thackeray in a state-ment carried by Saamna

19


Under the UPA, a new era of rural prosperity had set in. MNREGA, rural road and infrastructure initia-tives and rising crop prices had seen rural wages start to go up from 2007, reaching its peak with a 20 per cent increase in 2011. The BJP government is working hard to reverse these gains. Rural wages in India grew

only 3.8 per cent in November, 2014, the lowest since July 2005. The decline in rural wages was a matter of rejoicing among the BJP’s cronies in corporate India, who callously saw this as a way to reduce food price inflation as farmers would now demand fewer food items! Such is the fate of farmers and our rural broth-ers and sisters under the Modi Sarkar.

A STEP MOTHERLY TREATMENT TO MGNREGA

The Modi government is unable to cope with the suc-cess of MNREGA in providing a social safety net to needy rural families. It is playing politics with this path breaking programme.

On the one hand PM Modi calls MNREGA a monu-ment to Congress' failure and Union Minister Gad-kari slams it in an internal note.

On the other hand, Finance Minister Jaitley allocates Rs. 34,699 crores for the scheme and the Rural De-velopment Ministry lists MNREGA under 'success stories' in its list of achievements under flagship pro-grammes on the completion of the NDA government’s one year in office.

The Finance Minister makes a grand announcement that he would add another Rs 5000 crore for MN-REGA if there is tax buoyancy. This is not so much a promise but a possibility based on other possibilities.

The Finance Minister also ensured that funds allo-cated to MNREGA was not allowed to be spent fully. Expenditure was effectively capped at Rs.33,000 crore, even though the law explicitly states that this is a de-mand-driven programme for which funds must be provided.

Further, the Union government currently owes state around Rs.6,000 crores in unmet claims for money they have already spent.

With such a backlog and no significant increase in MNREGA budget allocation, it clear that the NDA is slowly trying to kill this successful, lifeline employ-ment programme by starving it of funds.

Several reports suggest that the dilution of MGNRE-GA might have contributed to increasing suicides in

Vidarbha. In 2014-15, the average number of work-days provided per household under MNREGA was only 52.94 days, as against the guaranteed 100 days.

The Modi government is unable to cope with the suc-cess of MNREGA in providing a social safety net to needy rural families. It is playing politics with this path breaking programme.

On the one hand PM Modi calls MNREGA a monu-ment to Congress’ failure and Union Minister Gad-kari slams it in an internal note.

On the other hand, Finance Minister Jaitley allocates Rs. 34,699 crores for the scheme and the Rural De-velopment Ministry lists MNREGA under ‘success stories’ in its list of achievements under flagship pro-grammes on the completion of the NDA government’s one year in office.

The Finance Minister makes a grand announcement that he would add another Rs 5000 crore for MN-REGA if there is tax buoyancy. This is not so much a promise but a possibility based on other possibilities.

The Finance Minister also ensured that funds allo-cated to MNREGA was not allowed to be spent fully. Expenditure was effectively capped at Rs.33,000 crore, even though the law explicitly states that this is a de-mand-driven programme for which funds must be provided.

Further, the Union government currently owes state around Rs.6,000 crores in unmet claims for money they have already spent.

With such a backlog and no significant increase in MNREGA budget allocation, it clear that the NDA is slowly trying to kill this successful, lifeline employ-

20


2014 southwest monsoon between June and September was 12 per cent below normal overall. In Maratwada, the rains were 42 % deficient.

Small farmers owning less than 2 hectares are bearing the worst brunt. They buy more food than they grow or sell, fetch low-er-than-market prices and are sui-cide prone because of debt traps.

Opting private loans this Kharif pushed farmers into deep financial crisis- hostile weather conditions forced them to buy inputs more than once. Financial institutions refused to give loans because of unclear earlier dues.

With these deaths, the number of farmer suicides in the cotton belt, facing water scarcity and agrarian crisis has gone up to 1,022 till December 2014.

Maximum deaths reported of farm-ers cultivating cotton and soya bean crops- greatest cause for concern. Over 5 million hectares of crop de-stroyed in the drought.

Out of 39,134 villages in Maharashtra, 19,069 villages have faced massive crop losses. Situation will worsen as water dries up further. The Centre has ap-proved Rs 653 crore to the State govern-ment to tackle the situation.

Agrarian crisis in Vidharbha and Marathwada is causing an average of 4 distressed farners to kill themselves daily, breaking all past records. 120 farm-ers committed suicide in November 2014 alone.

ment programme by starving it of funds.

Several reports suggest that the dilution of MGNRE-GA might have contributed to increasing suicides in Vidarbha. In 2014-15, the average number of work-days provided per household under MNREGA was only 52.94 days, as against the guaranteed 100 days.

Worse, in five districts of Vidarbha — Chandrapur (41.34), Wardha (45.52), Gadchiroli (47.63), Buld-hana (49.71) and Bhandara (50.39) — the number of workdays is below even the state average, while it is only marginally higher in the other six Vidharbha districts of Akola (55.92), Gondia (56.42), Yavatmal (57.78), Washim (59.94), Nagpur (71.74) and Amra-vati (75.78).

DISMAL MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICETo cap inflation and state borrowing, the government has limited rises in farm support prices to below the inflation rate. With large cuts in social sector spend-ing (particularly MNREGA and National Food Secu-rity Act) the government has already deprived the ru-ral population of disposable income, thereby bringing down the rural demand.

The primary purpose of Minimum Support Price is to provide farmers an assurance of a sure shot min-

imum income which encourages them to reinvest in agriculture.

Already bearing the brunt of freak weather, farmers are also being forced to sell their crop below MSP rate.

In spite of bad weather hampering farmers yield, the central government has asked the Haryana gov-ernment to cut the MSP by Rs. 14.5 per quintal for rain-damaged wheat.

21


FARMER’S SUICIDE AND GOVERNMENT’S APATHY26 percent increase in farmers’ suicide in 2014 over the previous year:

The already alarming situation in the agrarian sector could get worse if the government bulldozes its way to pass its land bill which has done away with the social impact assessment clause among other clauses pro-vided in the UPA II’s land Act. The government’s au-tocratic push is totally pointless and unjustified since the projects stalled due to land-related issues amount

to a mere 8 per cent of all stalled projects, according to the finance ministry.

Narendra Modi government is seeking to take the ‘heart and soul’ out of the UPA’s 2013 Land Acqui-sition Act Amendment by catering to the interests of corporates over farmers. The BJP, while callously pushing through the land acquisition ordinances, ar-gues that the farmer suicides should not be linked to this policy U-turn.

Source: The Times of India

INCREASE IN COMPENSATION: A SHAM!Unseasonal rains and hailstorms damaged about 9.4 million hectares of crops such as wheat, or 15.5 per-cent of the winter crop area.

On April 8th, P.M Modi had announced an increase in the quantum of compensation to farmers hit by unseasonal rains by 50%, asked banks to restructure farm loans in rain-affected states, lowered the eligi-bility for getting compensation for crop damage due to natural calamity from 50% of crop area to 33% for those who lost standing crops on over 120 lakh hect-

ares of land across 14 states due to unseasonal rain and hailstorms.

However, the Modi government continues to bury its real intentions under minute details making them hard to find or sidelining them in official verbiage. The assistance announced by this government will only be for the first disaster in a financial year.

“In case the state faces another severe disaster during the same year, no adjustment will be made while re-

22

FOOD CORPORATION OF INDIAThe Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Public Distribution has revealed that the government is facing a fund shortage. There is a shortfall of Rs. 81,000 crores of subsidy payable by the Food Minis-try to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other government agencies that procure crops. This is be-cause of gross under allocation by the government to the ministry, which is facing a Rs. 26429 crore cut in the Budget Estimates 2015-16.

FCI will not be in a position to procure grains and pay farmers, thus adding to their misery

The Food Security Act may not get implemented properly as the BJP-led central government seems to be trying to thwart the purpose and intent of the Na-tional Food Security Act, 2013 by reducing the num-ber of eligible beneficiaries from 67 to 40 percent. This recommendation (of reducing number of eligible beneficiaries) was made by the Shanta Kumar com-mittee constituted to examine the Food Security Act. It is left to be seen if the government implements this recommendation. Moreover, the implementation has been deferred yet again for the n’th time in the past one year. Crores of Indians are bound to starve and go hungry, thanks to an uncaring Modi Sarkar.

*****

leasing National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) assis-tance,” the official circular says.

Relief for damaged crops has been restricted to a max-imum of two hectares or five acres. This will automat-ically deny 50% of farmers the benefit of compensa-tion.


Agricultural Ministry is estimating the crop damaged area as 80 lakh hectares (197.60 lakh acres). Hence, eligible area for crop compensation has been effective-ly reduced, even as per government assessment, from 181 lakh hectares (447.07 lakh acres) to 80 lakh hect-ares (197.60 lakh acres) i.e. a reduction of 101 lakh hectares (249.47 lakh acres).

23


SOCIAL SECTOR PROGRAMMES ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

INTRODUCTION Governments have a fundamental duty to ensure the welfare of citizens. Governments invest in educating their citizens. Governments make sure that citizens are provided good health care. Governments also have a special duty toward those citizens who are dis-advantaged or vulnerable. Unfortunately for India’s citizens, the BJP-led NDA government does not believe in these fundamental responsibilities. The true intentions of a government are clearly reflected in how it allocates funds in its budgets. After the Union Budget presentation on 28th February, 2015, one thing stands clear. In the view of this government, there are corporates, there are income-taxpayers, and there are others. Corporates will get a relief of Rs 20,000 crore every year over four years beginning 2016-17.

In the fourth and last year, the relief will be Rs 80,000 crore. Income-tax payers will get the benefit of high-er deductions and hence lower tax liability. And the “others” will pay higher excise duty and higher service tax. While the corporates will exhale a sigh of relief,

the “others” will continue to suffer under the tyranny of Modi Sarkar.

The first full year-budget of the NDA government has slashed funds for social sector schemes by a whopping Rs. 66,222 crore.

Major cuts can be seen across all sectors- health, wom-en and child welfare, education, panchayati raj, rural development, agriculture, drinking water and sani-tation etc. Moreover, ignoring the needs of children belonging to backward regions the Modi government will no longer provide funding for major schemes like setting up 6000 model schools and the Backward Re-gion Grant Fund.

Crucial, high-impact programmes inherited from the UPA have been cut drastically, without a care for who will be hurt and how badly. The phrase “women and children first” has acquired a new meaning in the con-text of the NDA’s budget cuts – they have been the first to be targeted among India’s various vulnerable groups.

“Budget cuts might re-sult in a situation where the focus is lost on crit-ical programmes related to malnutrition of chil-dren, protection of chil-dren and supplementary nutrition for pregnant and lactating mothers,”

Maneka Gandhi, Women and Child Development Minister

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WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST

News stories report that Maneka Gandhi, the NDA government’s own Minister for Women and Child Welfare, has written twice to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley about ‘the slashing of the welfare allocations. In her April letter, Gandhi stated that her ministry addressed the needs of two critical constituencies - women and children.

“These are important from social and political point of view. The (budget) reduction has sent wrong sig-nals,” she stated, pointing out a shortfall of Rs 10,900 crore for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) that caters to the nutritional needs of nearly 10 crore women and children. Overall, Gandhi men-tioned an additional requirement of over Rs 13,000 crore for her ministry.

She said [budget cuts] might “result in a situation where the focus is lost on critical programmes relat-

ed to malnutrition of children, protection of children and supplementary nutrition for pregnant and lactat-ing mothers.”

Funds for the Women and Child Development Min-istry have been slashed to Rs 10,382 crore from last year’s allocation of Rs 21,193 crore, out of which the ministry managed to spend Rs 18,588 crore. Budget cuts will cripple plans such as the Rs 900 crore Na-tional Nutrition Mission and the proposal to hike the honorarium paid to anganwadi workers. After the Nirbhaya tragedy, the UPA government had moved to create 660 one-stop crisis centres for wom-en across the country. The NDA government has not spared this crucial initiative too. The number of wom-en’s crisis centres is to be limited to just 36. Clearly this demonstrates the sheer callousness of this gov-ernment toward the most vulnerable.

HEALTHCARE ON DEATHBED At a time when epidemics like swine flu are affecting the nation, the total allocation for initiatives under ‘Public Health’ is Rs. 1,769 crore as against Rs.1,929 crore in 2014-15. Under the UPA, in 2013-14, the al-location was Rs. 2,375 crore. The Central Plan allocation for NHM has also been scrapped since the 2014-15 budget. The State and UT Plan allocations for NHM in the year 2015-16 stands at Rs. 18,295 crore as against Rs. 24,490 crore in 2014-

15. During the UPA government in 2013-14, the total allocation (under Central Plan expenditure) was Rs. 18,880 crore. In contrast, during the UPA regime, expenditure on health and family welfare had gone up from 8,200 crore in 2004-05 to 33,200 crore in 2013-14 at an aver-age of 31% each year. The budget allocation for health increased by 42%from 2009 to 2013-14.The allocation for the National Rural Health Mission increased by 34% during UPA-II.

OVERALL DROP IN ALLOCATION TO SOCIAL SECTOR MINISTRIES

MINISTRY/ DEPARTMENT/ PLAN 2014-15 (in cr) 2015-16 (in cr)

Panchayati Raj Rs 3,400.69 Rs 94.75Agriculture Rs 19,852 Rs 17,004Women and Child Development Rs 18, 588.39 Rs 10,382.40Drinking Water and Sanitation Rs 12,107 Rs 6,243.87Water Resources Rs 6,009 Rs 4232Schedule Caste Sub Plan Rs 43,208 Rs 30,000Tribal Sub Plan Rs 26,714 Rs 19,000Land Resources Debt Rs 3,759 Rs 1,637Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Rs 12,100 Rs 6,236Mid Day Meal Scheme Rs 11,770 Rs 9,236

25


THE ANTI- DALIT AND ANTI- TRIBAL FACE OF THE MODI GOVERNMENT

There has been a major reduction in funds and a dis-crepancy in utilization of funds in important schemes like Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub-plan, Post matric scholarship scheme for SC stu-dents and Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme for SC students.

The Scheduled Caste Sub Plan which is aimed at giv-ing thrust to the economic development of Scheduled Castes living below poverty line got just Rs 30,000 crore, while the 2014-15 budget had allocated Rs 43,208 crore to it. The Tribal Sub Plan got Rs 19,000 crore compared to Rs 26,714 crore earlier.

The Modi government drastically reduced allocation by 50% to Rs. 1599 crore against an actual expenditure of Rs. 2711 crore in 2011-12 (Rs. 2153 crore in FY14) for the Post Matric Scholarships for SC students. This scholarship enables Scheduled Caste students to ob-tain post-matric and higher education resulting in their overall educational and economic development. The scheme presently covers over 30 lakh Scheduled Caste students.

Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme for SC stu-dents also met a similar fate. The scheme caters to the requirements of Scheduled Caste students to pursue research degrees in universities, research and scien-tific institutions. Against the budgetary allocation of Rs. 200 crore in 2014-15, revised estimates were dras-tically cut down to Rs. 150 crore in 2014-15 under the scheme.

The Tribal Affairs Ministry was allowed to spend only around two-thirds of the budget allocation, where the budget was cut down by more than Rs 600 cr.

Not surprising that the only Ordinance issued by pre-vious UPA government that was allowed to be lapsed and not re-promulgated by current NDA government was the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Pre-vention of Atrocities) Amendment Ordinance, 2014. The ordinance relates to enforcing accountability on public servants who “wilfully neglect” duties on mat-ters relating to atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

EDUCATION IS LAST PRIORITYThere is a 22.14% reduction in allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) over last year. The allocation does not justify the government’s increased focus on enhancing quality of education to address the poor learning levels of students. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the flagship programme for secondary education has 29% lower allocation as compared to previous year. There has also been a significant decrease of 48% in allocation for the Rashtriya Uchcha Shiksha Abhiyan

(RUSA).

The government reduced funds for higher education to the tune of Rs 3,900 crore in its revised budget esti-mates for the financial year 2014-15.

After having refused to disburse the funds for the final phase of construction of new IIT campuses, the gov-ernment has reduced the Rs 2,500 crore originally al-located to the 16 IITs for the year 2014-15, to Rs 2,337 crore, initiating a cut of Rs 163 crore.

26


PANCHAYATI RAJ RECEIVES A PITTANCE

Panchayati Raj and its institutions are the last mile connectivity of our democracy. Budget of Panchaya-ti Raj institutions has been reduced by Rs.3,306 crore i.e. by 98.6%. Modi government’s allocation to Pan-chayati Raj Institutions is a trifle pittance of Rs. 94.75 crore.

The Modi government is also strategically and sys-tematically killing MGNREGA by not releasing funds to the states. For year 2014-15, Government of India has not released over Rs.6,000 crore to the States. This has resulted in a failure of states to take up new proj-ects and provide employment in the current year.

BACKWARD REGIONS GRANT FUND AND MODEL SCHOOLS CUT OUT

The Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) was con-stituted to address not only regional imbalance in identified backward districts but also to ensure direct development in naxal affected areas. Modi Govern-ment has shut down the scheme and consequently de-nied the yearly allocation of Rs. 5,900 crore.

The central government will also no longer support the state governments in building 6000 model schools. The model school scheme was launched in 2008 and envisaged setting up a model school in every block of the country as benchmark of excellence for providing quality education to talented school going children.

AGRICULTURE SECTOR GETS A RAW DEALAgriculture contributes 17% of GDP, engaging 49% of India’s workforce. But the Modi government has gone about mercilessly slashing funds for this crucial sector.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna’ has seen a reduction in funds to the extent of Rs.7,426.50 crore. ‘Animal Husbandry and Dairy Vikas’ has seen a reduction in funds to the extent of Rs.685 crore. ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna’ has seen a reduction in funds

to the extent of Rs.8,156.22 crore. Funds for ‘National Livelihood Mission’ have been reduced by Rs.1,632.50 crore.

Not surprisingly, agricultural growth has gone down from 4.7% in 2013-14 to 1.1% in 2014-15 under BJP government (Economic Survey 2015). Area under cultivation has gone down by 33.22 lakh hectares in 2014-15 and total grain output is likely to go down from 2650 lakh metric ton in 2013-14 to under 2500 lakh metric ton in 2014-15.

GOVERNMENT PREVENTING DEPARTMENTS FROM SPENDING FUNDS ALLOCATED

Even more insidious than the drastic budget cuts for the social sector is the NDA government’s track re-cord of preventing departments from actually spend-ing the money allocated to them.

Capital spending by the health ministry fell to half its budgeted level. Expenditure of the rural development ministry—home to the some of the most important social sector schemes, including the MGNREGA, rural drinking water mission, rural roads, etc.—was

around 17% lower than the budget allocation.

The tribal affairs ministry was allowed to spend only around two-thirds of the budget allocation, while wa-ter resources also spent less by around 30%.

The worst off were the women and child ministry and the ministry of housing and urban poverty allevia-tion, which were allowed to spend only 55% and 45% of their outlays respectively.

27


HIDING BEHIND THE 14TH FINANCE COMMISSION : WITH A KNIFE!

The Finance Minister has loudly proclaimed that his government is a champion of cooperative federalism. The 14th Finance Commission’s recommended that the centre pass on 42% of central government reve-nues to states as untied grants (an increase from 32% earlier).

The NDA government has accepted this recommen-dation and is trumpeting it as an example of its com-mitment to cooperative federalism. The reality is that the central government is simultaneously cutting support for a number of centrally-sponsored schemes and passing on the burden to the states. States get funds from the Centre in the form of untied and tied grants. In terms of overall shares of central revenues going to the states (tied and untied grants), previously states received a total of 63% (out of which 32% was untied grants). This year, the states’ total share of revenues has actually fallen to 62% (out of which 42% is untied grants). This means that there is no additional money going to the states overall.

Using the excuse of an extra 10% of untied grants go-ing to the states, the NDA government has drastical-ly cut social sector spending, arguing that states will make up the shortfall out of their untied grants.

Essentially, by cutting funding for centrally-sponsored schemes, the NDA government is tying the hands of state governments and forcing them to allocate their untied grants to those crucial areas that the central government has abandoned. Because of state governments’ diverse priorities and capacities, the end result will be lower social sector allocations across the country, hurting the poor the hardest and ensuring that developmental outcomes will be uneven and inequitable.

The central government’s fundamental responsibili-ty to ensure a minimum level of basic welfare stands abandoned by the NDA.

BRGF: World Bank EvaluationIn 2009, the World Bank conducted an independent evaluation of the Backward Re-

gions Grant Funds programme in 16 districts in 8 States.

Key findings:

• Meaningful investments are made by the com-munities in projects chosen in a decentralized participatory manner.

• BRGF funds are the single most important source of discretionary funds available to the Panchayats

Key Suggestion:

• Outlays should be enhanced in order to be more effective.

28


Comparing budget estimates of 2015-16 with those of 2014-15 shows: Fall in central funding to Category B and C schemes together is about Rs 66,000 crore.

Compare this with how much states gained in net transfers from the Centre, including tax devolution- a little under Rs 64,000 cr i.e 15 % of Centre’s gross tax revenues.

This implies that whatever the states have to shell out for Category B and C schemes wipes out what they gain through funds transfer from the Centre.

Centre bound to support schemes man-dated by legal obligations, cess evaluations. But, this list does not include schemes re-lated to children and women i.e. ICDS or schemes for protection and prevention of violence against of women

Given these trends it is clear that social sec-tor burden is accorded to the States on the pretext of higher tax devolution.

There is a clear decline (35-40%) in the so-cial sector expenditures as share of GDP and total expenditure of the Union Govern-ment. States would alone need to restruc-ture their priorities.

Greater degree of autonomy does not nec-essarily mean an increased spending ca-pacity for the States.

For eg. a prosperous state like Karnataka may carry foreward all schemes. However, Arunachal Pradesh or Chhattisgarh will not have the same state capacity to contin-ue these schemes.

Thus the Union government’s argument for reducing total expenditure as a result of increased devolution to states remains unconvincing.

The reduced expenditures also throw light on the priority accorded to the social sec-tor commitments of the Union Govern-ment.

Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission includes Revenue expendi-ture to be borne by the States.

This announcement may be interpreted as a slow phase out of the schemes from the ambit of the Union government as capital expenditure on most of the listed pro-grammes are minuscule and have a larger revenue component- which then would be borne by states.

Thus if resources of the state do not increase commensurately there is an increased possibility of important pro-grammes suffering due to lack of resourc-es. This might also be burdened with the pressure on the states to bring down the revenue deficit to zero

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2. State capacity not uniform 4. Excuse to abandon social sector

1. More funds to States- A myth 3. Centre neglects key priority schemes

SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYANONLY A PHOTO-OP

On October 2, 2014 Prime Minister launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with great fanfare and publicity. How-ever, the Modi Government has reduced funds for this

crucial ministry by Rs.9,025 crore. Moreover, it con-tinues to remain a superficial project that does not ad-dress underlying and difficult institutional issues.

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MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DESTRUCTION?

Considering India’s potential to encash an extraor-dinary demographic dividend, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is one of our most cru-cial ministries. It holds the key to India’s progress and the empowerment of our youth. Keeping this in mind, the UPA government introduced path-breaking legis-lations like the Right to Education (RTE) Act which made education the right of every child in the coun-try. The UPA ushered in progressive policies like the Mid Day Meal Scheme and the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan and gave the HRD Ministry the im-portance it deserves.

However, under the NDA government, the HRD min-istry has been in the news only for the controversies it has generated. The Smriti Irani-led ministry has been become renowned for igniting fires and fire-fighting rather than for policy matters. From arbitrarily replacing German with Sanskrit as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas to the University Grants Commission (UGC) clampdown on Delhi University’s Four Year Undergraduate Pro-gramme (FYUP); from UGC asking Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to align their courses with the ones it recognises to the row over the resignation of the IIT Delhi director; from the ministry’s directive

to educational institutions to organise activities and events on December 25 to mark “Good Governance Day” to appointing RSS sympathisers to key posts; this government has massively mishandled a most crucial ministry. This government has impinged on the autonomy of academic institutions, weakened the IITs, focussed on the Sangh Parivar’s agenda of saffronization of ed-ucation and displayed a complete lack of vision. The Ministry has politically triggered resignations and has made appointments based solely on the loyalty to the Saffron cause. The financial backbone for education has also been crippled by this government. The overall education budget is down from Rs 82,771 cr to Rs 69,074 cr. Whereas under the UPA, the Plan allocation went up by 18% in 2012-13 and by 8% in 2013-14, the BJP Government has reduced the Plan allocation for 2015-16 by 25%. All major schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid Day Meal Scheme, Rashtriya Madhya-mik Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan have seen savage cuts. In all, the NDA gov-ernment has not taken any steps to strengthen the ed-ucation sector or carry out the required institutional reforms to improve access to quality education.

INTRODUCTION

“There are good bureaucrats, not so good bureaucrats, good political leaders. There are not so good political leaders. So the important thing is the system. After all, these are all public funded institutions and I think we should respect it”- Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay

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IMPINGING ON THE AUTONOMY OF INSTITUTIONS

Indian Institute of Technology vs Human Resource Department Ministry

Ministry bans student group critical of Modi government

Recently a students’ group in IIT Madras was banned because they were critical of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP government’s policies.

Minister Irani emphatically denied any role in the ban and went on to say that “IIT Madras is an autonomous institution which takes its own steps.” However, this ban comes exactly a week after IIT Madras received a letter from the HRD Ministry.

This shows that this government’s first instinct is to muzzle dissent and curb freedom. The BJP-led NDA government’s autocratic methods are an unsettling trend in a democracy.

Anil Kakodkar quits from IIT-B board Renowned nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar, Chair-man of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, put in his papers ahead of a crucial meeting of a search-cum-selection com-mittee, chaired by Minister Smriti Irani.

The Minister misled the nation on this issue. She ac-cused the opposition of peddling false and incomplete stories on the basis of media speculation and asserted that Anil Kakodkar had not resigned. The truth is that Kakodkar did resign but she did not accept the resig-nation. She requested him to serve out the rest of his term which he agreed to do.

He goes on to suggest on the issue of selection for an IIT director, “This is too casual a process for such an important activity and I can’t be a party to this. The point is you can’t be deciding that choice of IIT director or three IIT directors among 36 in a six or seven hour process. If you set aside everything and then you decide like that, then you are running a lottery.”

The resignation of a distinguished professional like Mr Kakodkar is reflective of the Minister’s overbear-ing working style and complete disregard towards nurturing intellectual excellence.

Shevgaonkar’s resignation - BJP politicking IIT Delhi Director Shevgaonkar’s resignation, nearly two years ahead of the end of his tenure, was trig-gered by the HRD Ministry’s interference in the af-fairs of India’s outstanding institutions like the IITs.

Reports suggest that the resignation is linked to a HRD Ministry probe into IIT Delhi’s initiatives in Mauritius which came about as a result of a Mem-orandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by India’s HRD minister with Mauritius during the UPA peri-od. IIT-Delhi shot back at the ministry denying alle-gations that International Institute of Technology Re-search Academy, (IITRA) Mauritius, is its extension campus.

When Anil Kakodkar was asked if Shevgaonkar was willing to change his mind, Kakodkar said, “The ques-tion is, I think, all of us have some minimum self-re-spect and in his case it was severely hurt.”

Minister contradicts her statement on setting up of IITRA in Mauritius While replying to a discussion on the demands of grants of her Ministry on April 27, the Minister said that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Act was violated to open up a technical institute at the inter-national level in Mauritius with the “Indian taxpay-ers’ money” during the UPA regime in 2013.

Same day in reply to an unstarred question in Rajya Sabha, she stated that IIT-Delhi did not incur “any expenditure” either on the setting up of the campus of the IITRA in Mauritius or starting academic pro-grammes at the institute.

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Violating the autonomy of the UGC

Four year undergraduate programme (FYUP) UGC issued a directive to Delhi University (DU) to withdraw with immediate effect the FYUP within days of it asking for a “review” of the FYUP, and just over a month after the NDA took power at the Centre.

The BJP manifesto had promised to scrap FYUP, and ABVP, the party’s student wing, had been protesting against the programme. The Centre’s assertion that it was not trying to interfere in the affairs of the autono-mous DU is hardly believable.

The very decision of the UGC to ask DU to scrap the FYUP on the ground that it violates the 10+2+3 for-mat suggests political expediency rather than appli-cation of mind. Clearly FYUP adds an extra year and thereby enhances the quality, quantity and employ-ability of education, rather than worsen it.


Smriti Irani interfering: UGC Member M. M. Ansari, a member of the UGC has slammed HRD Minister Smriti Irani for her “excessive inter-ference” in the functioning of the commission and for taking “arbitrary and abrupt” decisions, while de-pending entirely on a “well-planted bureaucracy” and the RSS for running the ministry. This member seems to have said out loud what is on the minds of many bureaucrats, academicians and administrators.

It is indeed shocking how this government is so com-fortable misleading people to gain political mileage. This issue of the NDA government interfering with the affairs of independent institutions escalated to such an extent that a few Rajya Sabha MPs, includ-ing Rajeev Shukla of the Congress, cutting across par-ty lines wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee asking him to step in and look into the matter.

HRD ministry interfering with institutes’ MOUs The HRD Ministry has proposed that while signing

any MoU for collaboration with foreign universities, Indian institutions must refer to the Ministry of Ex-ternal Affairs’ advisory in context of “national inter-est”, as well as keep the MHRD “informed”. Is this the minimum governance the PM promised?

Moreover, this is completely contrary to Acts govern-ing higher educational institutions like IITs, central universities and NITs which give them the power to enter into academic collaborations with other educa-tional institutions, including foreign ones. In August 2004, the UPA government had withdrawn previous guidelines noting it was an “unnecessary interference on the autonomy of institutions”.

Politically triggered resignations

HRD Ministry moves against Dinesh Singh The HRD ministry faced embarrassment with Pres-ident Pranab Mukherjee not accepting its report on Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh. The President is said to be unconvinced about the charges levelled against Dinesh Singh and has sought further clarifications. This clearly shows how the government

was reprimanded by the President for trying to level false charges against incumbent academic leaders to open up posts where Sangh Parivar loyalists can be parked.

Resignation of National Council for Education Re-search & Training (NCERT) Director Parvin Sin-clair

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SAFFRONIZATION OF EDUCATION

Politically coloured appointments With regard to appointments, Minister Irani needs to be told that the argument is not about persons from varied political affiliations being appointed. The argu-ment is about grossly under-qualified Sangh Parivar loyalists being made heads of premier institutions like the National Book Trust, Banaras Hindu University,

Indian Council of Historical Research, IIAS- Shimla, Aligarh Muslim University Court, Visvesvaraya Na-tional Institute of Technology (VNIT) Nagpur and awarding the highly prestigious National Research Professorship to three under-qualified RSS sympa-thizers.

A strong signal emanates from the manner in which Parvin Sinclair, Director of the NCERT was ousted two years before her term ended. This development came at a time when the NCERT is in the midst of review-ing its widely used school curriculum, also known as the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005.

The framework itself was the product of a long, broad-ly consultative process of “de-saffronisation”, which

led to widely acclaimed, secular-liberal and pedagog-ically superior school textbooks. Sinclair’s resignation means this process could start afresh.

Reports say that when Sinclair refused to toe Minis-ter Irani’s line on the NCF and other issues, she was reportedly charged with financial irregularities, not allowed to defend herself fully, and asked to resign.

It is chilling to think about the extent this government is willing to go in order to ensure that its mission of saffronization of the education system is fulfilled.

33


"The HRD ministry and the government at large have taken the right steps to-wards the nationalisation of the educa-tion system in India that has long been hijacked by the progenies of Marx and Macaulay who resent all that is Indian, from Swami Vivekananda to the Gita. So far as educational system is concerned, we want to saffronise all of India. Saf-fron is made of red and yellow, signifying strength and sanctity.”

-Dinanath Batra

Christmas becomes Good Governance Day: This move by the government clearly violated the secular spirit of the Constitution. Moreover, Cabinet Minis-ters misled both Houses when they claimed that no official directive to schools had been issued.

Communal polarisation on campus: The BJP’s plans to celebrate the birth anniversary of Jat King Raja Mahendra Pratap on the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus was described by students as an at-tempt by BJP leaders to "polarise" society.

The Vice Chancellor of AMU even wrote to HRD Minister Irani warning of potential "communal con-flagration" because of this issue.

Separate canteens for vegetarian students at IITs: Soon after taking office, the HRD Minister promised an overhaul in higher education. But the minister seems to have lost perspective and has mixed up her priorities for reform.

The minister asked the IITs to have separate canteens for its vegetarian students on the request of an RSS

worker who believes that non-vegetarian food cre-ates tamas (dark thoughts) in students. The Ministry wrote to the institutions at the behest of this request in spite of no such demand coming from the students themselves.

Sanskrit above all other languages: The HRD Min-istry issued a diktat to Kendriya Vidyalayas to stop teaching German as the third language and teach San-skrit instead. This decision taken in the middle of a school year affected about 70,000 students across 500 schools in the country.

Along with being insensitive to the students and teachers, the government is quoting policy frame-works selectively to further its ideological agenda and saffronize our education system.

HRD Ministry approves creation of Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Ayog (BSNA). Advocated by RSS-affiliated Shik-sha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas to “Indianize” the educa-tion system, the proposed BSNA is likely to be headed by the controversial teacher-turned-activist Dinanath Batra.

34


LACK OF VISIONWeaker financial backbone for education The NDA government is justifying the budget cuts by saying overall resources being transferred to the states has increased as a result of increased devolution as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission. However, a deeper examination reveals that increased devolution does not necessarily imply an increased spending capacity for the states. Thus the Union gov-ernment’s argument for reducing total expenditure as a result of increased devolution to states remains un-convincing.

There is a 22.14% reduction in allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) over last year. The allocation does not justify the government’s increased focus on enhancing quality of education to address the poor learning levels of students.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the flagship programme for secondary education has 29% lower allocation as compared to previous year. There has also been a significant decrease of 48% in allocation for the Rashtriya Uchcha Shiksha Abhiyan

(RUSA). It is expected to be offset by the greater share from the State Government. Allocation for technical education has been reduced by 2%.

Moreover, under the Modi government, the centre will no longer support the state governments in build-ing 6000 model schools. This scheme was delinked from Central support and the onus has now fallen on already cash- strapped states.

The government allocated 1000 crore for setting up 5 new IITs and said it was adequate because the bud-get for the initial year of a new institute is primarily meant for preparation and process-oriented activities that ensure the start of an institute from a temporary campus. If so, why did the government earlier in Jan-uary 2015 reduce funds for higher education in its re-vised budget estimates for the financial year 2014-15? The government reduced funds for higher education to the tune of Rs 3,900 crore in its revised budget es-timates for the financial year 2014-15. This revision hit the eight new IITs that were scheduled to move to their permanent campuses this academic year.

*****

35


EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE MESS

In the last twelve months Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited 19 countries. Practically the only time the PM has been in the country was when he was campaigning for his party in state elections. Perhaps PM Modi feels the need to get away from domestic issues, e.g., the agrarian crisis affecting our farmers.

Beyond the rockstar events, photo-ops, and selfies, what has India gained from our PM’s globe trotting? Is jet lag getting to him, given how his oratorical skills are decaying and he regularly uses language unbe-coming of the office he occupies? Why does the for-eign policy of this suit boot sarkar require industrial-ist Gautam Adani to be the PM’s constant companion on overseas trips?

OVERVIEW

MODI’S FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

May Elected Prime Minister

June Bhutan Trip

July Brazil Trip

August Nepal TripJapan Trip

September USA TripOctober Maharashtra Elections

Haryana ElectionsNovember Myanmar Trip

Australia TripFiji TripNepal Trip

December Jharkhand ElectionsJammu & Kashmir Elections

JanuaryFebruary

Delhi Elections

March Seychelles TripMauritius TripSri Lanka TripSingapore Trip

April France TripGermany TripCanada Trip

May China Trip Mongolia Trip South Korea Trip

“There should be steadier think-ing, steadier guage. It is not a good idea that in the fascination for out of box ideas to ignore the institutional memory embedded in the Ministry of External Affairs and outside.” - Arun Shourie on Modi gov-ernment sending “contradictory signals” on Pakistan.

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ALL TALK, NO RESULTS IN GERMANY?Not a single agreement/pact was signed during PM Modi's bilateral visit to Germany, Europe's biggest fi-nancial power. The only concrete deliverable was the decision to set up a dedicated mechanism in the Gov-ernment of India to promote Indo-German trade and investments, a privilege that the Modi government has thus far given only to Japan and the USA.

Modi's sole objective was to 'push' initiatives in an in-

tangible manner through speeches, public appearanc-es and meetings with High Networth Individuals.

At the Indo-German Business Summit at the Han-nover Fair, Modi repeated his subtle jibes at the UPA asking top businessmen and industrialists not to go by "old perceptions" and that he would make "correc-tions wherever required" to make India a global man-ufacturing hub.

DIRTY POLITICS ON FOREIGN SOIL!The Prime Minister of India indulged in word-play of a distasteful kind on April 17, 2015 while addressing an 8000-member NRI crowd at the Ricoh Coliseum at Toronto, Canada. Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, was also present.

PM Modi, while stressing India's necessity to equip its young force with the necessary skills, said India was earlier known as "Scam India" but he now dreams to make his country "Skill India."

Such language certainly does not behove a PM repre-senting the country on the global stage. On April 28, 2015, there was an uproar in the Rajya Sabha by most opposition parties who condemned the remark and asked for an explanation from the government.

This streak of making irresponsible statements seems to have become habitual for PM Modi. His recent damaging statements on foreign soil about Indians being ashamed of their nationality until he became PM has hurt the sentiments of every proud Indian.

THE ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ THAT ISN’TPM Modi’s sudden announcement that India would buy 36 Rafale jets from the French government in a fly-away condition contradicts his own ‘Make in In-dia’ slogan. This in spite of Indian negotiators making it clear to Dassault that it must lower prices and in-crease indigenization to win the Jet deal tender.

Without directly commenting on the future of the longstanding original tender negotiations for 126 Ra-fale fighter jets, Defence Minister Parrikar used an an-ecdote: “one car cannot run on two roads.” This likely indicates the end of road for the tender route and all the negotiation efforts of our diplomats and previous governments.

The shift reflects poor strategy on the part of the NDA government as India has now given a harmful signal to

the world: If they ignore India’s demand long enough and stand firm in their negotiations, India will ulti-mately bend and accede to their terms and conditions.

As per the original contract, 18 aircraft were to be bought off-the-shelf from Dassault while 108 were to be manufactured in India under transfer of technolo-gy (ToT) to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Lim-ited (HAL). HAL’s plans have now gone for a toss.

BETRAYED


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The Modi-Obama bonhomie in January 2015, while being attributed to the new chemistry between them, actually rests on the solid foundations built by Man-mohan Singh.

It was Dr Manmohan Singh’s tenacity and willingness to sacrifice his office for the nuclear deal that proved crucial.

It was the BJP that ensured that the breakthrough Indo-US nuclear deal would become inoperable by foisting an extremely unworkable liabilities legislation on the country. So PM Modi’s contribution to rescu-ing the nuclear deal was essentially about undoing the damage inflicted by his own party on the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.

INDO-US FRIENDSHIP STILL RULED BY UPA’S NUCLEAR LIABILITY LAW

“When a Head of State visits abroad he represents the

whole Nation. Modi’s speech is divisive, defamatory, malicious

and not based on facts,” tweeted Digvijay Singh.

DEJA VU, MR. MODI?PM Modi’s key offering to the Indian American dias-pora was lifelong visas for people of Indian heritage (combining PIO & OCI Schemes) and visas on arrival for U.S. citizens to India. Both these measures were

announced by the Congress- led UPA government before elections in May 2014. But by choosing his au-dience and timing with care, Mr. Modi’s reiteration of the plans made them appear to be his brainchild.

DEVYANI KHOBRAGADE: THE FORGOTTEN CIVIL SERVANTThe Devyani Khobragade incident over which there was loud chest thumping by the BJP when it was in opposition was forgotten during diplomatic interac-tion with US. In fact reports suggest that she has been warned by the Ministry of External Affairs for talking to the media about her travails. One of the reasons former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh was removed was because she had toed a tough line against the US following the Khobragade episode.

The UPA-II launched an aggressive anti-US cam-paign by rescinding the special privileges of US dip-lomats in India. On January 10, the UPA government ordered the expulsion of a US diplomat, Wayne May, of holding an equivalent rank as Khobragade in a tit-for-tat action, reflecting tough stance for its officer. Wayne May had taken “unilateral actions” and violat-ed various procedures with respect to actions taken related to the case.

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INDO- PAK RELATIONS AND KASHMIRAfter the initial exchange of saree and shawl by the two heads of states, Indo Pak relations have been spi-ralling downwards.

The year 2014 was marred by 562 ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, the highest in eleven years. 2015 has been no different and has already witnessed 164 ceasefire violations.

The foreign secretary-level talks were cancelled last August, resulting in further border skirmishes be-tween the two nations. The two leaders maintained a hostile presence with each other at the UN General Assembly in September, 2014 and the SAARC summit in Kathmandu in November, 2014.

The hostility between the two nations has resulted in scaling up the tension along the LoC and the conse-quent effect is heavy shelling across the border, fre-quent ceasefire violations, civilian loss of life and kill-ing of security personnel.

India’s Kashmir policy is in a mess. In August last year, Foreign Secretary level talks were called off when Pa-kistan High Commissioner did not accede to the de-mands of calling off its meeting with Hurriyat leaders.

With American pressure to revive the stalled dialogue, India blinked. Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jais-hankar flew to Islamabad in March without any as-surance from Pakistan that it wouldn’t interact with Hurriyat leaders.

On Pakistan’s National Day, March 23, India’s Minis-ter of State for External Affairs, V. K Singh, arrived at the Pakistani High Commission to take part in cele-brations attended by the Hurriyat crème de la crème.

The move came less than seven months after Modi proclaimed there would be no engagement with Pa-kistan until it stopped consorting with separatist Kashmiris. General Singh spent just 15 minutes at the event. Post his brief presence, the general tweeted to express his “disgust” at being part of the celebration.

At the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, Modi shookhands with Sharif on November 27. What was remark-able about the handshake was that it was preceded by an audacious attack on Indian Army bunkers that very day in Arnia sector of Jammu & Kashmir on the India-Pakistan border which left 12 dead — three In-dian soldiers, five Indian civilians and four militants.

For political gains BJP sacrificed its principles at the altar for furthering its political power by entering into an alliance with the People’s Democratic Party in Jam-mu and Kashmir (J&K).

Activities taking place in Kashmir since the BJP-PDP coalition government took charge are disturbing. First Masarat Alam was released by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Post his release, Masarat Alam went about chanting ‘Pakistan Meri Jaan, Pakistan Zindabad’ in the Kash-mir Valley and was also waving the Pakistan national flag. By facilitating his release and subsequently al-lowing him to hold a rally, the BJP-PDP alliance have taken a soft stand on the separatist issue, a u-turn from their position when in opposition.

There has been a complete downslide in the Kashmir situation with that state moving further in the sepa-ratist direction right under the nose of the NDA gov-ernment and because of its own actions.

The two recent terror attacks are the most potent proof of the deterioration and the high morale of the Jihadis.

Pakistan promptly deinied PDP leader Naeem Akhtar a visa to visit Islamabad. His visa application was re-jected to send the message that Pakistan considered only the Hurriyat as representatives of Kashmir.

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GOVERNMENT DOES A U-TURN ON DAWOOD IBRAHIM’S WHEREABOUTS

Dawood Ibrahim is one of India's most-wanted men for masterminding the 1993 blasts in Mumbai in which 300 people were killed.

The NDA government said in Parliament on May 5, 2015 that Dawood Ibrahim has not been located so far, contradicting its own stated position that he is in Pakistan.

The Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary while replying to a written question said, “The subject has not been located so far. Extradition process with regard to Dawood Ibrahim would be ini-

tiated once the subject is located.”

This in complete reversal of what the government has been maintaining for a long time that Dawood Ibra-him is living in Pakistan with the patronage of Paki-stani security establishment.

This flip flop by the government saying that the lo-cation of Dawood Ibrahim is not known, even when successive governments have maintained that the un-derworld don lived in Pakistan is tarnishing India's image.

“INCH TOWARDS MILES” – MERE PR STRATEGY

Even as Modi was trying to set the stage for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, the soldiers of the China’s People’s Liberation Army transgressed the Line of Ac-tual Control at Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

The move was apparently in response to Indian Army personnel building a makeshift storage hut at Tibli near Chumar well within the areas perceived to be

part of India. Indian troops responded to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) incursion and a standoff en-sued. 1,000 troops were called in on both sides, mak-ing it the biggest border confrontation between the two nations in decades.

By the time Chinese president landed in Ahmed-abad on September 17, the PLA’s aggressive posturing

40

INDIA BANGLADESH TIES: LEGACY OF THE UPA GOVERNMENT

The most significant event in the India Bangladesh re-lation has been the passing of Land Boundary Agree-ment (LBA) by the Indian Parliament.

While NDA has been quick to appropriate all credit, it is essential to note that the LBA was negotiated by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Ban-gladesh in 2011.

While in opposition, the BJP had stalled the agree-ment completely, even as Bangladesh had gone on to ratify it via their constitution. Being a constitutional amendment bill, the UPA government could not clear the bill without the BJP's support as it required the nod of two-thirds of those members present and vot-ing and a minimum of 50 per cent of the members being present in both Houses.

INDIA-JAPAN-AUSTRALIA

Both, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, insisted on adding “special” to the existing Indo-Japanese Strategic Glob-al Partnership. Yet the Modi government has not been able to conclude the civil nuclear cooperation agree-ment with Japan. Tokyo was upset at New Delhi for not being willing to commit to a ban on any further nuclear weapons tests.

PM Modi did sign a Civil Nuclear Agreement with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Canberra’s lifting its ban on the supply of uranium ore to India must be seen in the context of the US’s undermin-ing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty when it ratified the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in 2008, thus opening the way for nuclear commerce (with India) for countries like Australia.


along the LAC indeed made a mockery of the “InCh towards MILES” phrase coined by Prime Minister.

Finally, in media briefing on September 18, Modi made a statement that an early demarcation of the Line of Actual control is necessary. This is a departure from the earlier position of the BJP where the borders of India were considered sacrosanct and non-negotia-ble.

The recently concluded visit of the Indian Prime Min-ister to China is notable for what was missing. There was no reference in the joint statement to China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) initiative, though pre-visit Chinese commentary had expressed the hope that In-dia would be ready to join as partner.

There was no reference to the two sides engaging in a maritime security dialogue, which has been agreed in principle but not yet followed up on. Also while nego-tiations were on in Beijing during Modi’s recent trip, the NDA government did yet another U-turn and scaled back an ambitious plan to establish a new army corps to counter Chinese conventional forces across the Himalayas.

Stung by a 21-day face off on the disputed border two years ago, the UPA government had announced the establishment of a mountain strike force consisting of 90,000 troops, estimated to cost $10 billion and equipped with modern weaponry. But Defence Minis-ter Manohar Parrikar has scaled it down to 25-30,000 personnel.

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COSTLY GIFTS, NO RETURNS

PM Modi’s foreign financial commitments far outstrip the resources available to the Ministry of External Af-fairs (MEA). The allocation to MEA was cut down by 15%, forcing the cash-strapped ministry to pull back from key diplomatic commitments. A 158-crore loan promised to Maldives will remain unfulfilled. Aid to Nepal has been cut by a third, to Bhutan by one-fifth, to Myanmar and African coun-

tries by 60%, to Bangladesh by more than 40% and to Eurasian countries by 75%. The 60% cut in aid to African countries at a time when the continent is bad-ly hit by the Ebola epidemic will only make it harder for India to compete against the China’s growing fi-nancial muscle in the region. The 75% cut to Eurasia, which India eyes as a key source of energy and stra-tegic route, will hurt the former Soviet Republics and India’s attempt to build any clout there.

ONE RANK, ONE PENSION

The OROP scheme was approved by the Congress-led UPA government in February 2014. The BJP had promised to implement OROP in its manifesto. How-ever, it has become one of the many unkept promises of the NDA government.

The Modi government has blatantly disregarded the promise it had made to the brave men and women who put their lives at risk for the country.

FAILURE IN DEFENCE SPENDING - QUESTIONS ON INDIA’S DEFENCE PREPAREDNESS

TABLE: TRENDS OF UTILIZATION OF DEFENCE BUDGETYEAR BE ACTUAL % UTILIZATION2009-2010 Rs 1,41,703 cr Rs 1,41,781 cr 100.062010-2011 Rs 1,47,344 cr Rs 1,54,116 cr 104.602011-2012 Rs 1,64,415 cr Rs 1,70,913 cr 103.952012-2013 Rs 1,93,407 cr Rs 1,81,755 cr 93.982013-2014 Rs 2,03,672 cr Rs 2,03,499 cr 99.922014-2015 Rs 2,29,000 cr Rs 1,93,923 cr 84.68

Source: Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence:- Report on Demands for Grants (#6- Page 9)

Last year’s utilization figures for the Defence budget stood at 84.7%. This is when compared to 99.92% utilization in 2013-14 and more than 100% regularly during the UPA years.

*****

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CONCLUSIONOver the last one year, the Indian people have been witness to shameless hypocrisy, u-turns, legislative steamrolling, cheapening public discourse in India and abroad, lies, and double-speak that has resulted in the country facing its most serious governance pa-ralysis in recent history.

However, nothing has hurt the country more than the consistent attempts being made towards the denigra-tion of its sacred institutions by the ruling dispensa-tion.

The evolution of India as the world’s largest democ-racy witnessed a parallel process that involved the establishment and strengthening of a robust institu-tional framework. These institutions ensure that gov-ernment actions are scrutinized, thus strengthening accountability and transparency.

On May 6, 2015, on the floor of the Lok Sabha, Con-

gress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi challenged the BJP-led NDA government on its terrible track record with respect to such institutions. She asked: “We hear much talk of transparency, accountability and good governance. Then why is it that positions such as the head of the CVC, the CIC (under RTI) and the Lokpal are still vacant?”

The answer to this question is that the Modi govern-ment has been systematically and deliberately dis-mantling acts like the Right to Information (RTI) and the Lokpal and weakening institutions like the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Chief Vigi-lance Commissioner (CVC).

Even after one year in office, this Suit Boot Sarkar has kept critical positions vacant, especially those that have independent authority to question the working of the government’s machinery.

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION (CIC)It is for the first time since the inception of RTI in 2005 that the crucial post of Chief Central Infor-mation Commissioner has been lying vacant for 9 months. The post has been lying vacant since August 2014 when the tenure of Rajiv Mathur came to an end.

The Prime Minister in the election campaign last year made many promises to the people about transparen-cy and good governance and continues to do so.

Yet now in a blatant U turn his government has made sure, through the absence of CIC, that the highest of-fices of power such as the Prime Minister’s office, the cabinet secretariat, the Supreme Court, High Courts, the CAG, the ministry of defence and other important ministries are not accountable for violations under the RTI act and are protected from wider public scrutiny.

RTI without CIC is like running a Cabinet without a Prime Minister.

The number of pending appeals and complaints has doubled from 7,650 in August 2014 to 14,152 in April 2015. Also, the pendency of second appeals has piled up by over 100%. With a Commissioner able to dispose 200-300 cases per month on an average, a new CIC if immediately appointed will take 56 months (Feb 2020) just to clear the backlog, not counting all the new cases that will land on CIC’s desk in this period.

The founding premise of RTI was that citizens should not struggle with delays. Yet, the government admit-ted in an earlier part of this session that over 39,000 cases remained pending. Information delayed is in-formation denied, this is simply not acceptable.

The CIC which has been headless for over 9 months, is now working without its Secretary too as the gov-ernment has approved the premature repatriation of TY Das to her parent cadre, without mentioning the reason.

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CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISSION Another key constitutional appointment, the Central Vigilance Commission, which is the eyes and ears to keep a check on corruption in Government, has re-mained unfilled.The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is headed by a Central Vigilance Commission-er and has two Vigilance Commissioners.

Central Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and Vigilance Commissioner J M Garg completed their term on September 28 and September 7, 2014, respec-tively. The posts have been lying vacant ever since.Meanwhile there has been an 80 % rise in complaints to the Central Vigilance Commission.

CHIEF ELECTION COMMISSIONERH S Brahma’s retirement in April 2015 has added one more post to the long list of vacancies that the govern-ment needs to fill up in constitutional and statutory

bodies. The election commission is running without 2 Election Commissioners in a 3-member body.

POLITICIZED APPOINTMENT PROCESS FOR SUPREME COURT JUDGES

When the Modi government unilaterally rejected the appointment of former Solicitor General Gopal Sub-ramaniam, after the recommendation by the Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and the collegium, the CJI stated that the segregation of Subramaniam’s file from the others was done without his knowledge and con-sent.

It appears that the BJP did not wish to consider Go-pal Subramaniam’s appointment because, as Amicus

Curiae appointed by the Supreme Court, he had tak-en a tough stand in the Sohrabuddin, Kauser Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter cases, in which BJP President Amit Shah was charge-sheeted.

Gopal Subramaniam was also critical of the BJP gov-ernment in Gujarat headed by Narendra Modi and brought out new facts on the basis of which the Su-preme Court had ordered a CBI probe into the case.

ORDINANCE FOR ONE APPOINTMENT: TRAIWithin hours of assuming office, the BJP-led NDA government issued an ordinance to ensure the ap-pointment of former chairman of the Telecom Reg-ulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Nripendra Misra as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Amend-ment) Ordinance, 2014, was amended to allow a for-

mer chairperson, (here, Misra) or member to take up any government job, either at the Centre or in any state, after a cooling-off period of two years.

Not just this, these persons can now also accept “any appointment in any company in the business of tele-communication service” two years after demitting of-fice, thus opening the fabled “revolving door.”

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GOVERNORS APPOINTED IN UPA TERM REMOVED ARBITRARILY

After seven governors appointed by the UPA were given marching orders by the NDA government a petition was filed by the Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi, challenging his removal.

The Supreme Court in BP Singhal v. Union of India observed the President, in effect the central govern-ment, has the power to remove a Governor at any time without giving him or her any reason, and with-out granting an opportunity to be heard.

However, this power cannot be exercised in an arbi-trary, capricious or unreasonable manner. It should only be exercised in rare and exceptional circum-

stances for valid and compelling reasons.

The mere reason that a Governor is at variance with the policies and ideologies of the central government is not sufficient to remove a Governor.

Another way the institution of Governor has been denigrated is by treating the governorship of Mizoram as a punishment posting; seven governors have been transferred there over the last year, and the manner in which this has been done has led them to resign in protest. (Terrible damage has also been done to the people of Mizoram and their self-image and self-re-spect).

MINISTER HARSH VARDHAN SACKS WHISTLE BLOWER CHIEF VIGILANCE OFFICER AT

AIIMS FOR EXPOSING CORRUPTIONDeputy Secretary and Chief Vigilance Officer of AIIMS, and repeated whistle-blower Sanjeev Chaturvedi, had a four-year fixed tenure till 2016 but he was abruptly transferred without any explanation.

He had ordered investigations against a senior offi-cer at AIIMS from (now Health Minister) JP Nadda's home state Himachal Pradesh.

His continuing at his post would have meant corrup-tion at senior levels being exposed.

Three days before the Modi Government came into power, his posting was verified and authorised, in re-ply to an objection raised by Nadda about the contin-uance.

HOME MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH CUT OUT OF APPOINTMENT PROCESS

Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) pro-posals were first sent by the Cabinet Secretary to the Home Minister for approval, before they were ratified by the PM.

After cutting out ministers from the appointment of senior bureaucrats, the Prime Minister’s Office has now reduced the Home Minister to a rubber stamp in the selection process.

PM ATTACKS THE JUDICIARYThe Prime Minister has time and again attacked the Judiciary. The PM’s remark that the judiciary should guard against ‘five-star activists’ and that it was not as

fearless as it used to be is not only damaging but is also a serious charge on its independence.

45


MINISTERS NOT ALLOWED TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN PRIVATE SECRETARIES

Modi decided to exclude his ministers from having any say in senior-level appointments in their respec-tive ministries.

A government circular had said “it has been decided by the competent authority that any officer/official/private person who has worked earlier in the staff of a minister in any capacity for any duration may not be appointed as personal staff of ministers in the present government”.

Also ministers have been asked not to appoint officers who had served on the ministerial staff in the previous UPA government.

Such moves politicize the bureaucracy and create needless divisions of ours and theirs. Such moves un-necessarily cast suspicion on officers who worked in key positions in the previous government.

DISGRACEFUL COMMENTS ON THE MEDIAThe highest offices of the NDA government did not even spare the fourth pillar of democracy – the Media.

The Prime Minister during an election rally, branded them as ‘Bazaru’ while the Minister of State for Exter-nal Affairs, Gen V K Singh (Rtd) called them ‘Pressi-

tutes’ (a variation on the word Prostitute). (The same Gen. Singh compared the incumbent army chief with dacoits and made bribery allegations against his for-mer colleagues).

CHANGE OF HEART ABOUT CAGThe BJP came to power hurling charges on the basis of CAG reports and in the process giving them the status of divine scripture.

However, on coming to power, the Modi government has promptly taken a U turn and has started preach-

ing that CAG reports should not be used to target po-litical opponents.

Finance Minister Jaitley threatened the CAG that it should refrain from sensationalizing its reports.

DISRESPECTING THE TEMPLE OF DEMOCRACYIn efforts to weaken institutions, the NDA govern-ment has not even spared the highest sovereign body- The Parliament of India.

Flouting all parliamentary procedures, this govern-ment, despite being in absolute majority is ruling the

country by Ordinance Raj. On an average, the NDA government passed one ordinance every 28 days.

Further, only 8 of the 52 bills passed by the govern-ment have been referred to parliamentary standing committees for scrutiny.

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one year of the modi government: a performance assessment

Presentations & Public Speaking

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