UPA II completes 100 days in office

The UPA government completed 100 days in office in its second stint today with a mixed bag of good work on certain fronts while stumbling on the diplomatic front with Pakistan as it grapples with a severe drought and its effect on the price front.
      
While the Congress-led government could boast of historic measures like passage of the bill to provide for free education to children and for empowerment of women, the spiralling prices, drought situation in parts of the country and swine flu spoiled the party for the coalition.

The feel-good effect after it secured the mandate began losing its sheen after the faux pas at Sharm-el-Sheikh when prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Ali Gilani came out with a joint statement delinking terror from talks with Islamabad and inclusion of Balochistan in the dialogue process.

The government came under intense attack from friends and foes alike after which the Congress did a tightrope walk for a long time before coming to the aid of the Prime Minister. UPA-II started on a bullish note after the elections with Manmohan Singh becoming the only leader after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to occupy the high office for a second time after a full term.

The 100-day programme of the government showed the intensity of the Prime Minister who made it clear to his Cabinet colleagues that 'business as usual will not do'.

No forward movement was possible on the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill despite the government making its intention clear to move ahead in the 100 days. But the government did move ahead on the issue of providing 50 per cent for women in Panchayats.

The proposed ambitious law for ensuring food security to the poor also failed to take off. The Union Budget for 2009-10 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sought to inject a massive booster dose with doubling up of outlays for rural development  at a time of sluggish growth, which is expected to be six per cent this year.

The government has also come out with a new Direct Taxes Code which promises to simplify direct tax laws and promises to put more money in the pocket of tax payer. It also came out with a Trade Policy with an ambitious target of USD 200 billion exports for 2010-11.

A general feeling was that the internal security scenario was satisfactory with Home Minister P Chidambaram in command of the situation, a portfolio he was ushered into after the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes last year.

The government asked various ministries to detail the work done in the first 100 days so that it could come out with a "Report to the People" soon. The Law Ministry also came out with a 100-day plan but had to beat a hasty retreat in the Rajya Sabha when it was forced to withdraw an ill-drafted bill on declaration of assets by higher judiciary. 

The issue, however, has been resolved with the judges of the Supreme Court now now deciding to go public with their assets.On the telecommunications front, the government resolved the long-pending issue of the 3G spectrum, paving the way for moving to the next generation of mobile services.

An empowered Group of Ministers has fixed Rs 3,500 crore as reserve price for 3G spectrum to be given to a maximum five players initially. It has also announced a massive road development programme with a target of constructing 20,000 km per day.

A novel initiative was the creation of a new body headed by one of the Infosys founders Nandan Nilekeni to provide every citizen a unique biometric identity card.

Health authorities have been kept on toes following the outbreak of swine flu in parts of the country especially in Maharashtra which created a panic among the people. Price rise is a worry for the government and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to the Prime Minister on the need to control the price line.

Government hopes the retreating monsoon will come to its aid without copious rainfall to make up for the loss in the South West monsoon and that better harvest later in the year would help on the price front.