Last one year of Modi Govt 2 was filled with controversies and hits and misses. The party has spoken about its hits, we will talk about the misses.
New Delhi| The country is today facing a pandemic. Over 1.7 lakh people have been affected due to Coronavirus whereas more than 4,000 have died so far. While the country deals with the health crisis, the Modi Govt 2 completed a year in power. Last year on this day Prime Minister Modi and the cabinet ministers took the oath of office. There were many new faces. But some old guards were retained although their ministries were shuffled.
The major introduction to the Modi cabinet was Amit Shah. Amit Shah till then was BJP President and as a president, he ensured that the party wins most of the elections. As a reward of his work, he was given the home ministry. This is the second powerful ministry in Prime Minister’s cabinet.
Last one year was filled with controversies and hits and misses. The party has spoken about its hits, we will talk about the misses:
1. Economy
Boosting the Indian economy has been a major concern in the past year. Right after Modi govt won the mandate, it faced a challenge of a slowing economy. After initial denial, the govt finally agreed that there was an economic slowdown in the country. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman then also met people from various sectors to address their issues. But nothing seems to have worked out as the slowing economy and now the lockdown induced by the pandemic has sent Indian economy on a downward spiral. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth slowed to 5.2 per cent in the April-June quarter. the GDP growth continuing to slide further to 4.4 per cent in July-September and 4.1 per cent in October-December. Now as per the latest data, the GDP growth for January to March quarter is being pegged at 3.1%. The yearly GDP growth is 4.2% which is 11 year low. Private consumption, investment went down. Services, the manufacturing sector remained the most affected. The lockdown came as a deadly blow.
The Finance Minister tried to assuage the fears and boost the economy with the 20 Lakh crore package announced by PM Modi but that doesn’t seem to have excited the market much.
All in all, it was a very disastrous year for the Indian economy but the real fear is what is coming next.
2. Employment
In first Modi govt, it was promised that every year 2 crore jobs would be generated. While the government so far hasn’t exclusively told us how many jobs have been created, the agencies monitoring economy say that Unemployment in India has risen. Just a day after Modi cabinet took the oath the labour ministry confirmed a leaked report that unemployment in India has touched a 45 year high. It confirmed that The unemployment rate in 2017-18 was 6.1 per cent.
according to a latest CMIE report, India’s unemployment rate rose to 24.3 per cent in the week ended May 24, slightly more than the figure (24 per cent) recorded in the previous week. The latest rate is higher than the average unemployment rate of 24.2 per cent reported in the past 8 weeks. As on May 25, India’s average unemployment stood at 24.5 per cent, where urban unemployment was at 26.3 per cent and rural at 23.7 per cent.
The lockdown further worsened the crisis.
121.5 million Indians were out of jobs in April as per CMIE. This consisted of 91.3 million including daily wagers and those working with small traders were out of jobs in April followed by 18.2 million employment loss of entrepreneurs, and 17.8 million among the salaried class.
with the mass migration of Migrant workers back to their home towns, the number might go up.
4. CAA Protests:
The government claims the passing of CAA is its biggest achievement. But the government wasn’t able to control the situation post passing of the bill. The controversial act spurted many spontaneous protests which started mainly in Assam but later it spread to different parts of the country. This was probably the first time since Anna Andolan that citizens came out on the streets to protest. Marches, protests were organized in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kerala, Chennai etc. After the incident on 15th December, where students of Jamia Milia university were attacked and police were accused of excess of power, students also joined the protest. protests sparked in several prominent universities across India. from IIT, IIM to even Ivy league college students staged a protest in solidarity. The highlight of CAA protest was the protest at Shaheen Bagh. Here the local women started protesting against CAA, NRC and NPR and for almost three months the protest went on. Shaheen Bagh became a symbol that also inspired many other similar protests in different parts of the country. But during this entire period, the high handedness of Delhi police which comes under Home Minister Amit Shah was criticized the most.
5. Delhi Violence, Hate speeches
During the Delhi elections, BJP leaders including cabinet minister Anurag Thakur and state leaders Kapil Mishra made several provocative statements against those protesting against the CAA. Slogans like ‘Desh Ke gaddaro ko goli maaro saalo’ ko were shouted by none other than these BJP leaders. On 23rd February Kapil Mishra made a provocative statement post which riots broke out in Delhi.
Riots were taking place on such a large scale in the country’s capital 36 years after the 1984 Sikh riots. Violence continued for three days. In many photographs, the Delhi Police, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, was seen throwing stones with the rioters. More than 50 people died in this violence. when the violence erupted in Delhi, US President Trump was visiting India. In the international media, the Modi government was criticized for not controlling the riots in time. Remarkably, neither the govt rebuke its minister nor the party disqualified its leader over hate speech.
6. Press Freedom:
India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index is 142. It has been falling continuously for the last three years. In 2019 it was 140 and in 2018 it was 138. Recently, on 11 May, a journalist from Gujarat, Dhawal Patel, has been jailed and charged with treason. He wrote in an article on 7 May that Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani may lose his post due to not being able to prevent Corona. But not only this many journalists faced sedition cases or legal action against them for reporting stories in the last year. UP journalist Pawan Jaiswal who exposed the mid-day meal reality in Mirzapur of UP, an FIR was registered against him. Many journalists in Kashmir who too faced legal actions.
7. Migrant Crisis:
The sudden lockdown announcement prompted the migrant crisis in India. After the lockdown was announced in march by PM Modi, several migrant workers were stranded in the city. With no job in hand, the money they had fast depleted and this started the migrant exodus from the cities. Migrant workers even two months later are trying to reach their home towns. Initially, the govt did not pay much attention to the issue. With no public transport available. some migrant workers started walking in the scorching heat, some on private vehicles, some stacked in trucks, DCMs etc. From May 1st the Modi govt started shramik special trains but in the trains too, 80 migrants lost their lives. Many lost their lives due to hunger. Many of exhaustion after walking hundreds of kilometres while some were killed in road accidents. The most gruesome of the accident happened in Aurangabad where migrant workers who fell asleep near railway tracks after walking were mowed down by a train. The scattered clothes, broken slipper and Rotis on the track showed the gravity of the situation. It has been two months now, but still, migrant workers are leaving the cities.
Would the Modi govt at least succeed in handling the pandemic? At a time when India is planning to introduce relaxations in the lockdown, the cases are rising. For almost one week now the cases have constantly been above 6000. today India recorded the highest case count in 24 hrs. But the government says recoveries have also increased.
Well, what do you think about the Modi govt 2.0 tell us in the comment box below?
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