Critics often claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refurbished the old schemes of the Congress-led UPA government by giving it a new name. While it seems correct to some extent as schemes like Swachh Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are indeed the extension of Nirmal Bharat and financial inclusion schemes, PM Modi to his credit has come with several first-ever ideas and schemes too. Here are five such initiatives:
Make in India
This ambitious programme was initiated by the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) in 2014 soon after the BJP government came to power. A workshop titled "Make in India – Sectorial perspective & initiatives" conducted in December, 2014 came up with action plan for 1 year and 3 years to boost investments in 25 sectors. It aims at raising the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25% of the GDP by 2020.
To make India a global manufacturing hub, the government is replacing obsolete and obstructive frameworks of the past with a transparent and user-friendly system to help drive investment, foster innovation, develop skills, protect IP and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.
Various sectors have been opened up for investments like defence, railways and space. For example 100% FDI has been allowed in defence sector for modern and state of the art technology on case to case basis, 100% FDI under automatic route has been permitted in construction, operation and maintenance in specified Rail Infrastructure projects. Also, the regulatory policies have been relaxed to facilitate investments and ease of doing business.
Mann Ki Baat
Taking a cue from US President F D Roosevelt's famous radio broadcast series Fireside Chats, PM Modi started his Mann Ki Baat programme on October 3, 2014 to connect with general masses. This May he completed 20 episodes of radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat in as many months. An estimated 92% of the total Indian population is reachable through the medium of radio which gives Mann Ki Baat a formidable reach. Doordarshan's Direct to Home (DTH) service 'Freedish' relays feeds of the 20 odd minute long episodes to television and radio channels.
As the name suggests PM Modi speaks on various issues that come in his mind in a freewheeling manner and seeks participation of the audience by asking them to give suggestions. He gave the call to give up LPG subsidy first time on Mann Ki Baat.
Call to give up LPG subsidy
Though the programme to give up subsidy was started during UPA regime in 2012, Modi can be credited as the first PM who directly asked people to give up subsidy in a sustained way. A year after he made the first call to the affluent families to give up their cooking gas subsidy, the campaign seems to have worked well and has benefited over 13 Lakh BPL families as of March 31, 2016.
The number of consumers who responded to the 'Giveitup' campaign has crossed 82 lakhs thus helping the exchequer save a whopping Rs 4,166 crore which is equivalent to one-tenth of yearly allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Consumers can opt out of the subsidy by submitting written request to the distributor or electronically at www.mylpg.in.
Startup India
Startup India campaign is based on an action plan aimed at promoting bank financing for start-up ventures to boost entrepreneurship and encourage start ups with jobs creation. The campaign was first announced by PM Modi in his Independence Day address.
It is focused on to restrict role of States in policy domain and to get rid of 'licence raj' and hindrances like in land permissions, foreign investment proposal, environmental clearances etc. To help Startups, the government is setting up corpus fund of Rs 10,000 core, has reduce patent registration fee by 80%, given friendly bankruptcy code to ensure 90-day exit window, freedom from mystifying inspections and Capital Gain Tax for 3 years and also freedom from tax in profits for 3 years.
Mudra Bank
Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA Bank), is a new institution setup by the BJP government for development of micro units and refinance of MFIs to encourage entrepreneurship in India & provide the funding to the non corporate small business sector.
MUDRA Bank will need two type of product like refinance for the micro units having loan requirement from Rs 50 thousands to 10 lakhs and support of Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) for on landing. MUDRA will refinance to micro business under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.
Under the guideline of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Scheme, MUDRA Bank has launched its three initiative products. Their name is Shishu, Kishor and Tarun to signify the stage of growth and funding needs of the micro units or entrepreneur. MUDRA Bank is refinancing through state-level institutions, MUDRA will deliver the loan through NBFCs, MFIs, rural banks, district banks, nationalised banks, private banks, primary lending institutions and other intermediaries.
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