#dnaEdit: Vision and actions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 17-point action plan for ministries appears geared towards a series of grand announcements to coincide with his first 100 days in office. These grandiose plans reflect a definitive vision of governance that Modi has begun to fashion in line with his Gujarat model of development and the striking promises of “minimum government, maximum governance” that he propagated on the campaign trail. Many in the business establishment, enamoured by China’s rapid strides in connectivity and infrastructure development, have endorsed the same model for India. But with little success in pushing through this rapid development paradigm, blame has been placed on India’s democratic institutions for retarding a similar growth trajectory. With the huge burden of expectations, Modi, perhaps, feels he has no other option but to replicate the Gujarat and China experience on a national scale.

The country is poised to witness a mega construction boom if Modi’s vision of 24-hour road and rail connectivity anywhere in India, coastal expressways, and latitudinal expressways connecting the eastern and western coasts fructifies. Besides unlocking investment, stagnant since 2009, the job creation accompanying infrastructure development works will have popular endorsement. But what remains hazy is whether Modi has thought through the implications of such a growth model. With high population densities, land acquisition disputes, fragile ecosystems and citizens increasingly aware of their rights, it has become difficult to sideline the local populace from the development issues that directly impact them. Perhaps, Modi will temper the bitter medicine with developmental initiatives in health, education and agriculture that benefit rural communities. But compared to the focus on infrastructure management, improving tax administration, e-tendering, mini-power grids operated by private vendors or cooperatives, the government’s social sector initiatives have lagged far behind.

Like past Prime Ministers, Modi is also entitled to moulding a development vision that he believes in. But it is also important to listen to the voices of dissent or risk repeating the mistakes of his predecessors.

There were alternative models in vogue even when Jawaharlal Nehru took the road to State-sponsored industrialisation, Indira Gandhi adopted an invasive license-permit raj, or decades later when Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s wholeheartedly adopted neo-liberal policies and fell prey to the idea that India was shining. The Chinese are now grappling with the consequences of the policies that catapulted them into a manufacturing powerhouse. Widespread dissent and ecological degradation have accompanied China’s structural imbalances between rural and urban areas, ordinary civilians and party officials. In Gujarat, Modi’s policies did wonders for industrial development but the state’s health and education parameters — whether it be dropout rates in schools, gross enrolment ratios in colleges, or availability of doctors and specialists in rural areas — are far below the national average. 

By zeroing in on infrastructure development, defence production, service delivery and power generation — areas where the UPA clearly failed — Modi is betting heavily on laying a framework that can power the next wave of industrialisation. While Modi’s penchant for unveiling ideas by the dozen may have something in them for all sections, they also come with contradictions and competing interests. Diluting land acquisition laws would help industry but not farming communities but climate change mitigation efforts could help the latter and deter the former. The proposed labour reforms could hurt the working class but a national skill development programme offers workers hopes of a better future. The vision for India that Narendra Modi is shaping has potential; but for sustainable development top-down decisions must factor in bottom-up concerns.