The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MAY 31, 2022
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has witnessed a paradigm shift towards people-centric governance. The last 8 years of the Government have been based on the Prime Minister’s mantra of ‘Reform, Perform, Transform’. Across sectors, landmark policies and initiatives have been implemented to improve last mile delivery of benefits and enhance development outcomes across the country.
The policies have focused on improving infrastructure, ramping up healthcare facilities, ensuring farmers’ welfare and protecting the marginalized. Further, India has witnessed unprecedented strides in youth-led and technology-led development and has also seen various reforms aimed at enhancing ease of doing business in the country. Another important aspect has been enhancing National Security and implementing initiatives to develop the remote regions of the nation. Additionally, women centric policies have played a major role in promoting participation of women in sectors such as Defence.
Pro-poor Initiatives from Day 1 – The clarion call of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayaas’ became the cornerstone of policies aimed at improving the lives of the underprivileged. Schemes such as PM Ujjwala Yojana, PM SVANidhi Scheme, Jal Jeevan Mission, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan have all been instrumental in providing basic amenities and improving the quality of living of the poor. Under the PM Jan Dhan Yojana, over 45 crore people were brought into the formal banking sector, further enabling Rs 22.6 lakh crore worth of Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) to beneficiaries.
Additionally, as with the onset of COVID the nation went into lockdown, Government schemes such as PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana led to free distribution of rations to more than 80 Cr underprivileged people. Further, initiatives such as PM KISAN have been transformational in strengthening the agriculture sector by providing ₹6,000 every year to over 11 crore farmers across the nation. Rs 1.2 lakh crore has been disbursed for insurance claims under the PM Fasal Bima Yojana and 167 kisan rail routes have been operationalised to improve farm to market logistics.
Better Healthcare for all – COVID-19 outbreak was an unprecedented situation for the entire world. Despite the severe burden on medical facilities, India handled the pandemic in a focused and efficient manner. Through a concerted push by the Government, India became home to the largest and fastest vaccination drive in the world. During the pandemic, healthcare facilities were also ramped up including inauguration of multiple oxygen plants and increasing PPE manufacturing capacity from 0 to second largest in the world. To ensure that vaccinations reached the remotest parts of the country drone technology was used and for the first time in the world the entire vaccination drive was digitized.
Furthermore, viewing healthcare as an important pillar for economic growth, the Government launched the world’s largest insurance coverage scheme- Ayushman Bharat Yojana, wherein 3.26 crore citizens availed free medical treatment. To increase the availability of affordable medicines over 8,700 Janaushadhi Kendras were established in the country that aid in 50-90% savings in medicine costs. Additionally, recognising the need for increased penetration of healthcare delivery across the nation, the Government operationalised 6 new AIIMS and increased medical colleges by 55% in the country.
Better Infrastructure for Ease of Living – The Government, in the last 8 years has also worked dedicatedly on improving the ease of living in the country. With a major push towards infrastructure development focused on enhancing last mile connectivity in the country, the remotest regions have also witnessed never seen before development. Projects such as Atal Tunnel, Bogibeel Bridge and airports in Sikkim & Tripura, are all examples of the aforementioned progress.
Further, landmark reforms such as GST have eased the burden on taxpayers by helping households save upto 4% of their monthly expenditures. Through a concerted focus on digitisation through the Digital India initiative, processes such as tax filing, insurance claims and government paperwork have been streamlined and simplified. This has also been made possible through an unprecedented increase in the number of digital users in the country.
Ease of Doing Business – While global trade slowed, FDI into India increased. Highest ever FDI of USD 83 Billion in FY21-22 was testament to the investor and business friendly policies in the country. Production Linked Incentive Schemes, development of plug & play infrastructure, one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world and National Single Window for fast tracking investments, are among the many initiatives that contributed to increase FDI in the country.
Further, as the 3rd largest startup ecosystem, India witnessed the emergence of 100 unicorns and more than 70,000 recognised startups. The Government also focused on leveraging the demographic dividend in India by increasing and improving the educational facilities in the country. With one university being opened every week and a new IIT & IIM being operationalised every year, the youth of the country are getting access to quality education.
India is now steadily embarking on the path to becoming a superpower where its voice is heard and where it is seen as an equal partner. Through a plethora of development initiatives we are unlocking the potential of India and creating a nation of people-led governance & prosperity.
