Evening Post

V.SRINIVAS

India’s economic history over the past 70 years has been marked by several critical milestones amongst which are the crisis years of 1966, 1981 and 1991 and India’s emergence from the economic crisis as the fastest growing major economy of the world.

India’s balance of payments position was under pressure throughout 1965. As the year 1966 opened, exchange reserves had already been reduced to a low level. In March 1966, a stand-by arrangement of US$ 200 million was approved by the IMF.  Rupee was devalued by 36.5 percent to bring domestic prices in line with external prices, to enhance the competitiveness of exports. The US dollar which was equivalent to Rs. 4.75 now rose to Rs. 7.50 and the pound sterling from Rs. 13.33 to Rs. 21. The Government declared a plan holiday. The fourth five-year plan was abandoned in favor of three annual plans in the wake of disruptions in the economy on account of two years of drought, two wars, and the devaluation of the rupee. The annual plans guided development with immediate focus on stimulating exports and searching for efficient uses of industrial assets. The devaluation failed; it did not achieve its objectives. The promised foreign aid did not materialize.

The balance of payments situation changed dramatically in 1979-80. Inflation soared from 3 percent in 1978-79 to 22 percent in 1979-80. The external terms of trade worsened significantly owing to higher prices for imported petroleum and fertilizers. Trade deficit zoomed. Government undertook deficit financing on an unprecedented scale. In 1981, to meet the short term cyclical imbalance, India drew SDR 266 million of the SDR 500 million approved under the compensatory financing facility (CFF) from the IMF. The main elements of the Government’s strategy for restoring the viability of balance of payments was an increase in the domestic production of petroleum and petroleum products, fertilizers, steel, edible oils and non-ferrous metals. India’s strategy for bringing balance of payments under control paid rich dividends. The Government voluntarily decided not to avail of the balance of 1.1 billion SDR under the Extended Fund Facility of the IMF.

The IMF programs of 1966 and 1981 helped tide over periods of high inflation and difficult balance of payments position faced at that point of time. That said, they were modestly successful in bringing economic reforms to the Indian economy. India entered the 1990s with structural rigidities and imbalances in the economy, pronounced macroeconomic imbalances despite a significant growth rate of 5 percent. Several adverse domestic and external developments precipitated in the balance of payments (BOP) crisis in 1991. From this crisis, emerged a comprehensive reform agenda backed by an IMF program which was effectively implemented.

On August 27, 1991, India approached the IMF for an 18-month stand-by arrangement in an amount equivalent to SDR 1656 million. The adjustment strategy entailed a set of immediate stabilization measures adopted in July 1991 most notably a 18.7 percent depreciation of the exchange rate and further tightening of monetary policy including increase in interest rates, designed to restore confidence and reverse short term capital outflow. A comprehensive program built around the twin pillars of fiscal consolidation and a radical structural reform to shift away from past policies was adopted. In many ways, the IMF program of 1991/92 ensured India’s integration into the global economy.

The global financial crisis which began in 2007 took a turn for the worse in September 2008 with the collapse of several international financial institutions. Indian stock markets witnessed a 60 percent loss in values, foreign portfolio investment slowed down and rupee lost 20 percent value against the dollar reaching Rs. 50/ dollar. Expectations that the Indian economy is ‘decoupled’ from the West were completely belied. A substantial fiscal stimulus was provided through two packages on December 7, 2008 and January 2, 2009. The Reserve Bank of India took a number of monetary easing and liquidity enhancing measures including the reduction in the cash reserve ratio, statutory liquidity ratio and key policy rates. The objective was to facilitate funds from the financial system to meet the needs of productive sectors.

India’s economy was one of the first in the world to recover after the global crisis. Prompt fiscal and monetary policy easing combined with a fiscal stimulus had brought growth to pre-crisis levels. Capital inflows were back on the rise and financial markets regained ground. Growth was projected to rise from 6 ¾ percent in 2009-10 to 8 percent in 2010-11. India faced challenges in managing capital flows and sterilized intervention was pursued to help reduce exchange rate volatility.

On October 8, 2016 the Indian Finance Minister addressed the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) during the Fund-Bank Annual Meetings presented India as the fastest growing major economy globally with GDP growth at 7.2 percent, foreign exchange reserves of USD 372 billion, current account deficit of (-) 1.1 percent and CPI inflation at 5.05 percent. The Government showed deep commitment to fiscal consolidation, lowering the cost of credit to private sector and help price stability. Subsidy reforms were undertaken with better targeting of subsidies by linking oil subsidies with aadhar. Government constituted an empowered monetary policy committee and fixed an inflation target of 4 percent with a tolerance level of +/- 2 percent for the period 2016-2021. The GST represents a major milestone in tax reforms. The economic transformation from an IMF program country to the world’s fastest growing major economy represents a significant success story for the Indian economy at 70.

BY MANJARI KATJU

An excerpt from Manjari Katju’s Hinduising Democracy: The Vishva Hindu Parishad in Contemporary India.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) gained public recognition through its Ramjanmabhoomi campaigns in the 1980s. It continued to grab headlines in India till the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992. After the demolition it led a relatively quiet life and did not storm news headlines as regularly as before—except during elections. The VHP’s moving away from a career of high publicity between the mid-1990s and 2013 was a strategic turn brought about by a change of political circumstances and weakening of support for its big campaigns like Ramjanmabhoomi, the demand for a Ram temple at Ayodhya considered by some to be the place of Ram’s birth. The toning down of its voice and a change in focus in this period was because of these reasons rather than due to a loss of interest in public activity. Its relative quietness symbolised a shift of terrain, a change of mobilisational strategy. From lofty programmes that were not paying many dividends in hegemonising the idea of Hindu nationhood, it moved its focus to work at the grass roots. It intensified this work both in urban and rural areas. 

The VHP looks upon itself as a religio-nationalist organisation, a leader or guru representing all Hindus. This persona was bestowed upon it by the RSS. It sees itself as advocating Hindutva and engaged in hinduising society by correcting the ‘ills’ which have come upon Hindus. It is not a political party and has not entered the electoral arena in an organisational capacity. However, some of its members do contest elections. They do so as BJP candidates. Such members have straddled the boundaries between the VHP and BJP and sometimes also between VHP, BJP and RSS. The VHP drew on the ideas of V.D. Savarkar (1883-1966), former president of the Hindu Mahasabha, and M.S. Golwalkar (1906–73), the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS, to lay the foundation of its work. While Savarkar gave a theoretical grounding to Hindutva and shaped it as an ideology, Golwalkar gave it functional power and tried to operationalise it as a hegemonic force.

It is from outside the electoral sphere that the VHP attempts to make interventions in Indian politics. As a religious organisation it makes efforts to influence policy and change the course of politics. It is from this standpoint that it has attempted to build a critique of democracy and alter the conception of citizenship. It also critiques the Constitution of India and calls upon the Indian state to pay closer attention to ‘Hindu interests’. Its identity as a religious organisation is important for it to build a stand on political questions and influence public opinion. It has tried to cultivate a sadhu persona, one who has taken up the task of reform and revitalisation of the Hindu religion and community, which over time has helped it build popular support. It is interesting that it has continued to strengthen its self-identity as a religious organization.

The VHP’s self-image is that of a religious organisation working for religious reform and national interest. It sees itself as an organisation trying to preserve and protect Hindus from attacks and deviations. Its main area of activity is the Hindu–Muslim and the Hindu–Christian fault line where it actively builds campaigns against these minorities and ‘secularists’. With this stance, it tries to influence public opinion on political matters and is an active campaigner for the BJP.

It is not that the VHP has changed itself completely from what it was earlier. In fact, it carries forth its original ideology zealously in its work. I go back to some of its ideas and views before 1995 for the sake of explaining its contemporary stances about politics and society. But the VHP has modified its work patterns according to the altering patterns of Indian politics. There are both continuities and breaks in its working, something that has to be taken note of.

With the BJP’s Hindu right wing government in power after winning absolute majority in the general elections of 2014, the VHP has become vocal about its ideological beliefs. In the words of late Ashok Singhal, “In 800 years, a day has now come in which we can say we have a government which is committed to protecting Hindutva. Our values will be gradually established in the country… Hindus have come back to power in Delhi after Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan lost it in the 12th century”. 

This victory is seen by the VHP as the Hindutva victory for which VHP and the RSS had worked hard. The communally provocative speeches of VHP leaders in 2014 and 2015 clearly convey that they have regained much of their enthusiasm which had waned during 10 years of UPA rule. The VHP is hopeful that it will realise its ideological goals, especially the building of the Ram temple though it has not planned any agitation. According to VHP leader Pravin Togadia, an agitation is launched only when an opponent is in government, and since the government at the centre is “of our brother Narendra Modi there is no need for VHP to start a movement or agitation” for the Ram temple.

Manjari Katju is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hyderabad. This article is an excerpt from her book, ‘Hinduising Democracy: The Vishva Hindu Parishad in Contemporary India’.

Nashville, Tennessee

The first time a new country songwriter named Kacey Musgraves saw one of her songwriting heroes, John Prine, she had an unusual proposition when she approached.

"I said, 'Hey, my name is Kacey and I am a really big fan. I don't want to offend you or anything, but is there any way you might want to burn one with me?''' Musgraves recalled saying after one of his shows in Nashville, Tennessee.

Musgraves, who would later go on to win two Grammy Awards for her 2013 major label debut album, was hoping to fulfill a fantasy of smoking a joint with Prine. It was also the premise of an unreleased song she had written that somehow ended up on Prine's desk.

Prine, who has survived a couple of bouts of cancer, politely declined.

"He says, 'Well, I don't do that anymore, but if I did, I would with you,''' Musgraves, who is now 28, recalled.

This 70-year-old former mailman from Chicago is the hippest writer in Nashville and still in demand. Prine has become an affable songwriting guru for many of Nashville's talented young artists, including country rebel Sturgill Simpson, Americana darlings Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, and rocker Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys.

All those artists have lined up to open for Prine, when they are easily selling out their own venues as headliners.

"I have met some really great people in the last five years that it's easy to see that music in general is in good hands,'' Prine said in an interview from his office, which is decorated year round with Christmas lights and a white Christmas tree.

Prine published his first book in April, a songbook called "Beyond Words,'' which features guitar chords, family photos, handwritten or typed lyrics with his editing marks and witty musings alongside some of his most well-known songs, from "Sam Stone,'' "Angel from Montgomery,'' "Paradise,'' and "Hello in There.''

Prine's reinvigorated career came after neck cancer in the late '90s left him with a much lower and grittier voice. After his recovery, he just moved his songs to lower key.

"Some of my oldest songs that I used to perform every night became brand spanking new just because I changed the key,'' Prine said.

He started his own record label Oh Boy in Nashville in the early '80s, which sold his CDs by direct mail to fans. He enjoys his independence from major labels, even if it has meant fewer sales. He says his only advice to young songwriters is don't give up their publishing rights in a record deal.

"I am not a big one for advice,'' Prine said. "I will tell them stories about things I have failed at or places I have stumbled and hope they take it as a parable. And maybe apply it to themselves and maybe not.''

Auerbach and Prine wrote several songs together, including the title track for Auerbach's new solo album, "Waiting On a Song.''

"It was like having a conversation really,'' the 38-year-old singer said of writing with Prine. ``And I think for me, that's what John does so well with his music. It's not over your head. He uses simple language to convey big meaning.''

The Grammy-winner has taken on heavy topics including coal mining on Appalachia, the treatment of Vietnam veterans and the loneliness of growing old, and earned praises from Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Kris Kristofferson, who helped Prine get his first record deal. But he also likes to write with humor, as evidenced by another popular duet with Iris Dement "In Spite of Ourselves,'' that contains some of his best one-liners about love and marriage.

"I think John is very youthful at heart,'' Musgraves said. "He's a big kid. So naturally he gets along with people that are younger than him. But also he probably recognizes himself in a lot of the up-and-coming songwriters that respect him.''

Even a trip to the grocery store is an opportunity for aspiring writers to pitch him. "I used to leave Kroger with cassettes in my pockets because people would drop CDs and cassettes because they want John Prine to hear it,'' Prine said.

His last album in 2016 was a collection of classic country duets with artists like Musgraves, Alison Krauss and Miranda Lambert. He hasn't released an album of new songs in 12 years, but his wife and manager, Fiona, and his son, Jody, who runs his label, convinced him it was time again.

He's going back in the studio in July to record new music and he's also been nominated for artist of the year at this year's Americana Honors and Awards show held in September.

"I like the scene in Nashville,'' Prine said. "I am not particularly happy with modern country music, but it's part of a tradition. It will come and it will go, but it will always revert back to what country was before. I can see it coming around again. I am going to stick around Nashville and see what happens.''

Prakash Chawla

A short and crisp video unveiled by President Shri Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the launch of the Goods and Services Tax  in the majestic Central Hall of Parliament  captured the clear objective  behind country’s most important tax reform till date. Unlike what economists and other commentators have been telling us as to how the GST would push the country’s Gross Domestic Product  and make life easier for the trade and industry, the launch film showed  a much broader aspect of the modern taxation that has the country’s people, especially those economically less privileged at its core.

In his inspirational speech at mid-night of June 30, minutes before the roll out, Prime Minister, referred to GST as a life changing instrument for the poor particularly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, other eastern states and the North East.  Even as they are blessed with rich natural resources, these states have not been able to fully exploit the same for their development. 

On face of it, one might ask, how is GST going to be of great benefits to the poor of the country, or is it that the same old “trickle down “ theory is supposed to play a role , via trade and industry. To an extent, it could be so, but the very character of the GST would ensure in realising what the Prime Minister said before the country’s most distinguished audience. The country’s mature polity and cooperative federalism has finally delivered a system, which is people –centric and not necessarily manufacturer centric.

Unlike the excise or other levies, the GST that subsumes seven Central and eight state taxes, is not source or manufacturer based but a destination or consumer centric. In plain and simple language, the states which have more consumers would stand to gain immensely in terms of tax buoyancy that would then be channelled in the welfare schemes for the people and overall economic development of the states. Surely, states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and North East, which did not have much of a manufacturing base and were losing on revenue would stand to gain while the developed and manufacturing hubs would be compensated at least for five years of the GST launch. More the consumers, higher is the tax collection in a state; though the consumers need to be economically empowered!

The growth impetus to these states which could not keep pace with the states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka in manufacturing, would come from trade which in turn would generate huge resources for ploughing back into development efforts. Such a vibrancy would then lead to interest of investors, both domestic and global, into manufacturing and related service sectors, opening vistas for job creation for millions of people. 

“GST is a system that ends the imbalances in the country’s trade. It also boosts the exports of the country. This system not only provides impetus to already developed states but also provides the opportunity to the backward states to develop. Our states are enriched with natural resources – look at Bihar, eastern UP, West Bengal, the north east, Odisha. They are all brimming with natural resources. When they will get a single tax regime I can see clearly that whatever deficiency is there those will be removed and this art of the country will move ahead. All the states of India will get equal opportunity for development”, the PM put the context right. 

Besides, the one nation –one- tax from “Ganga Nagar to Itanagar “ in the words of Shri Modi, would surely make life easier for the industry, trade and common person in different ways, encouraging honest way for the  economic transactions. This is why, the GST has been dubbed as ‘Good and Simple Tax’ that would bring in a new governance culture.

Both the PM and the President gave full credit to different political parties and governments at the Centre and the states in making the GST a reality. “This is not a Sidhi (realisation) of one government or a party; it is a fruit of common efforts”, the Prime Minister said. The President, who had himself played a pivotal role in the progressive journey of the GST as Finance Minister in the previous government, had some apt words:

“The new era in taxation.... is the result of a broad consensus arrived at between the Centre and States. This consensus took not only time but also effort to build. The effort came from persons across the political spectrum who set aside narrow partisan considerations and put the nation’s interests first. It is a tribute to the maturity and wisdom of India’s democracy”.   

One of the principal advantages of the new tax regime would be doing away with the cascading effect resulting from ‘tax on tax’. Through a robust IT infrastructure, the system of input credit ensures that it gets passed and adjusted against the tax liabilities. This would only help the consumers. “The prices of goods and services will come down. In the earlier system, the credit for excise duty, service tax, VAT and other indirect taxes did not get passed to the last vendor. But, in the GST, such credit goes to the supplier at the last stage of the value  chain which then gets transferred  to the consumers,” said noted tax expert Shri  Brij Bhushan. 

Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley too has been impressing upon the industry to pass on any gains which accrue following the GST roll out. He hoped that the government may not have to use the powers vested in it through the Anti-Profiteering Authority to ensure that the benefits get passed on to the common citizens.

While even the President Shri Mukherjee said that there could be disruptions in the initial stage, such a thing would be constructive disruption. Once we are through the teething troubles and initial period of adjustment, GST would prove to be a people-centric, capable of transforming lives.  

Srikumar Banerjee

Government’s announcement for the plan of construction of ten new Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) of 700 MWe capacity vindicates the confidence in the indigenous PHWR technology which has been built over a period of nearly four decades. The performance of the present sixteen indigenously built PHWRs is demonstrated by an average capacity factor of about 80% over last five years, their uninterrupted operation over extended periods, the longest being 765 days for a Rajasthan Reactor, RAPS-5 securing the second world ranking and a very low average electricity tariff which is next to that of the hydroelectric power. More than anything else, is the fact that 100% of all their components are manufactured by the Indian industry. Dr. M.R.Srinivasan in a recent column in The Hindu (appeared on May 19,2017) has succinctly outlined the history of the development of the PHWR technology and the near-term strategy of the growth of nuclear power capacity. The evolution of the PHWR technology and the upgradation of their safety features have been covered in a series of scientific papers published in a special section of the April ‘17 Issue of “Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science’- a journal published by American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The PHWR technology in India started in the late nineteen sixties with the construction of the first 220 MWe reactor, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, RAPS-1 with a design similar with that of the Douglas Point reactor in Canada under the joint Indo-Canadian nuclear co-operation. Canada supplied all main equipment for this first unit. India retained responsibility for construction, installation and commissioning activities. For the second unit (RAPS-2), import content was reduced considerably and indigenization was taken up for major pieces of equipment. Following the complete withdrawal of the Canadian support in 1974 after Pokhran-1, Indian nuclear engineers completed the construction and the plant was made operational with majority of the components made in India. From the third PHWR unit (Madras Atomic Power Station, MAPS-1) onwards, the evolution and indigenisation of the design began with the objective of keeping abreast with evolutionary changes taking place worldwide and of meeting new safety criteria. Improvements were also incorporated for reduction of the construction time and cost, and enhancing reliability of operation leading to better capacity factors. The first two units of PHWR using indigenously developed standardized 220 MWe design were set up at the Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS). This standardized and optimised design had several new safety systems which have been incorporated in five more twin-unit atomic power stations with capacity of 2 x 220 MWe located at Kakrapar, Kaiga and Rawatbhata. For realising the economics of scale, the design of 540 MWe PHWR was developed and two such units were constructed at Tarapur. Further optimisations were carried out by utilising the excess thermal margins and improve the economics and NPCIL modified the 540 MWe PHWR design to that of 700 MWe capacity without much design changes. Four units of this design are being constructed at Rawatbhata and Kakrapar at present.

As far as the safety is concerned, the PHWR technology scores well in terms of its several inherent safety features. The biggest advantage of the PHWR design is the use of thin walled pressure tubes instead of large pressure vessels used in pressure vessel type reactors. This results in a distribution of pressure boundaries to large number of small diameter pressure tubes. The consequence of an accidental rupture of the pressure boundary in such a design will have a much less severity than that in a pressure vessel type reactor. The PHWR core is always uniquely surrounded by huge quantity of low temperature and low pressure water in the calandria vessel and in the calandria vault. These coolant inventories significantly delay the progression of the event and, thereby, provide adequate time for interventions and corrective actions by operators to mitigate the consequences. In fact, the large quantity of vault water can serve as a core catcher for in-vessel retention of disintegrated fuel debris in the case of a very low probability core melt accident. These inherent heat sinks are required only when the primary heat sink through steam generators or the shutdown cooling system becomes unavailable in the most severe accident scenario.

In addition, the Indian 700 MWe PHWR design has enhanced safety through dedicated Passive Decay Heat Removal System which has the capability of removing decay heat from core without requiring any operator actions similar with the technology adopted for Generation III+ plants to address the Fukushima type accident. The 700 MWe Indian PHWR has steel-lined containment to reduce the leakages and containment spray system to reduce the containment pressure in case of a loss of coolant accident and for scrubbing radio nuclides in case of their release beyond the design limit.

The main reasons for selecting PHWRs in the 1960s for the First Stage of the Indian nuclear power programme have been the use of natural uranium oxide as the fuel, the best utilisation of mined uranium in energy production and the prospect of establishing a completely self-reliant technology. Over four decades of relentless research, design and development work in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Nuclear Power Corporation and the matching contributions of some of their industry partners who had shown the courage in taking up the challenging manufacturing and construction work have enabled India in establishing the technology in totality. Mastering the entire fuel cycle including prospecting of minerals, mining, processing and manufacturing of fuel and structural materials, reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and immobilization of radioactive waste has given India a unique position of self-reliance in the atomic energy domain. The constraint of a limited reserve of uranium in the country which earlier impeded a rapid growth in nuclear power has now been eased by augmented production of indigenous uranium and import of uranium under the civil nuclear co-operation agreements with several countries. During the last financial-year Nuclear Fuel Complex had a record production of nuclear fuel exceeding 1500 tonne and new uranium deposits discovered by Atomic Mineral Division for Exploration and research have taken the uranium reserve in the country to a level of 200000 tonne.

India is now poised for a rapid growth in the nuclear power capacity which is essential for meeting the demand of clean electricity. The per-capita electricity consumption in India (now close to 1000 KWh) is nearly one-third of the world average and there is an obvious need for a substantial enhancement of non-carbon electricity production to improve the quality of life of our people. The impressive growth in the solar and wind power has made a visible impact in increased availability of electricity in many areas. However, it needs to be emphasized that the distributed and intermittent sources of energy such as solar and wind cannot meet the base load demand very effectively. The nuclear energy source is concentrated, continuous and reliable and, therefore, can be complemented by solar and wind energy in meeting the overall demand of electricity with practically zero carbon foot-print. While the huge electricity demand from large cities and industrial complexes require uninterrupted and concentrated form of energy, there is an equally big demand of distributed energy in our rural areas. Energy planners are, therefore, combining these different patterns of energy requirement to achieve an optimised solution.   

The next issue which needs to be addressed is the speed at which we can grow our nuclear power capacity. In this context one can examine the experience of France and USA in nineteen seventies and of China in the recent years. They all have achieved very impressive rapid growth by adopting a convoy or a serial mode of installation of nuclear power plants of a few standardised designs. In such a strategy, the industry can gear up their dedicated production lines for sophisticated nuclear components and construction companies can deploy their manpower and skill-set most effectively. The decision that 10 PHWRs of 700 MWe will be installed in the immediate future will generate enough enthusiasm in the industry for taking up the challenge of serial production of nuclear components of exacting specifications. The expansion in nuclear power activity will not only broaden the supplier base but also make the participating industry more quality conscious. They can even qualify to be exporters of nuclear grade components. A reduction in the gestation period of construction of nuclear plants will have a strong impact in reducing the cost of electricity.

As has been mentioned by Dr.Srinivasan, India is now in a position to embark upon building 900 MWe Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) of her own design. The capability of making large size pressure vessel is now available within the country and our own isotope enrichment plants will be able to supply a part of the required enriched uranium fuel within a decade. These will be in addition to imported PWRs from Russia, France and USA with the aim of an accelerated growth of nuclear energy in the country. The signing of the recent agreement between India and Russia for the construction of two more 1000 MWe PWRs (Units 5 and 6) in Kudankulam confirms this overall plan. The convenience of operation and a high average capacity factor have made PWRs the most sought after nuclear power reactors in the world, nearly 85% of all power reactors being the PWR type.  There will be a special advantage of operating a mix of PWRs and PHWRs in India as the spent fuel of the former which will contain more than 1% of uranium-235 can be reprocessed and further utilized as the fuel in PHWRs operating in tandem. This evolving fuel cycle will eventually extend the power generation from the First Stage of the well- known three stage programme quite significantly.

The merit of the closed fuel cycle which has been adopted right from the beginning of the Indian programme is not only in multiplying the fuel resource but also in reducing the radio-active burden of the nuclear waste dramatically. In this context, the successful development of separation of minor actinides from the nuclear waste in India, deployed in pilot plant scale, has drawn world-wide attention. Plutonium recovered by reprocessing of spent fuel from operating PHWRs has been used in making the plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel for the full core of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) which has initiated the commissioning activities before commencing operation. With the entry of India in her Second Stage of nuclear power programme in which Fast Breeder Reactors will not only enable the growth of the installed nuclear capacity, but also generate more fissile materials, plutonium-239 and uranium-233 by conversion of fertile isotopes, uranium-238 and thorium-232 respectively. An enhanced scope and an accelerated implementation of the First Stage of the programme will make a far- reaching impact on securing the energy self-reliance of the country. By operating multiple recycles in the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle the supply of fissile material is expected to be enhanced by a factor of 60 and by using the huge reserve of thorium, the current estimate being four times that of uranium, India can sustain the supply of clean nuclear energy for several centuries.

Ratnadeep Banerji

The vivacious culture of India is elevating to the entire planet, both humans and nature. Down the memory lane, Indian culture has manifested in various realms across Asia and beyond and is still found flourishing overseas. The Government of India has been reaching out to dozens of countries to bring out this lost link and to give a glimpse of India though a series of India Festivals in respective countries. India’s vast culture flows in rural panorama and the Ministry of Culture has been holding folk and tribal festivals across India also including metros and tourist destinations to revive dying arts and promote tribal artists and performers. The citizens of India are getting to know Gandhiji and Netaji with yet more profound insight. Our last three years has instilled this realization of inheriting a rich legacy and also the citizen’s incumbent responsibility to preserve it.

 Netaji Papers Declassified

The Government of India decided to declassify files pertaining to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to meet the long standing public demand and place it in public domain. Files were received by the National Archives of India from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs. On the occasion of 119th birth anniversary of Netaji on 23rd January 1916, digital copies of 100 files were released in public domain by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  In all, 303 files have been put in public domain till now on www.netajipapers.gov.in.

The National Archives of India had received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) from the Ministry of Defence, way back in 1997. Thereafter, in 2012, 271 files from the Khosla Commission and 759 files from Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, in total 1030 files were received from the Ministry of Home Affairs.  All these files are already open to the public under the Public Records Rules of 1997.

Stolen Treasure Retrieved Back

Three ancient stone sculptures of Seated Buddha, Goddess Pratyangira and Worshippers of Buddha were stolen and smuggled out of India and inadvertently acquired by the National Gallery of Australia. At a special event at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture & Tourism was handed over these artifacts. One Bronze object of Nataraja and one Stone object of Ardhanarishwara from Australia have also been retrieved. Prime Minister’s visit to USA in June 2016 facilitated the return of 17 antiquities smuggled out of India to USA.  One stone object of Parrot Lady from Canada and one stone object of Durga from Germany have also been retrieved.

World Heritage

India has been active on the UNESCO front, receiving due cognizance. Yoga being India’s one of the ancient practices has now been inscribed as an element in the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity during the 11th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During this session, India’s proposal for inscribing Yoga as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was unanimously supported by all the 24 members of the Intergovernmental Committee.

Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim and The Capitol Complex in Chandigarh were announced as World Heritage Sites during the 40th session of the World Heritage Council held at Istanbul in Turkey in 2016.

 Cultural Mapping of India

To nurture, hand-hold and train upcoming artistes on a sustained basis there needs to be grant of scholarships, fellowships, pensions, and other forms of assistance. To reach far and wide comprehensively, there is a need to have data-base of such art forms and artists, referred to as Cultural Mapping. So far, profiles of more than 1 Crore artists has been collected.

 Project Mausam  

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) along with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and the National Museum is bringing out the historic diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean extending from East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent and Sri Lanka to the Southeast Asian archipelago including the study of Maritime Routes.

Satellite Mapping of ASI Monuments 

Archaeological Survey of India along with National Remote Sensing Centre of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is preparing satellite based maps of all its 3686 centrally protected monuments indicating prohibited and regulated areas clearly for the information of public and also to facilitate procedure for grant of permissions for construction related activity within prohibited and regulated areas.

National Virtual Library of India

National Mission on Libraries has embarked on building National Virtual Library of India as the digital platform which would bring together all information generated in India and about India and make such information accessible to the citizens through user friendly search interfaces.

Gandhi Heritage

The construction of National Dandi Memorial at Dandi has been initiated. Also, construction of the Heritage path relating to 21 night halt places is under progress.

Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission has been refurbishing Gandhi Ashram Trust at Noakhali in Bangladesh, Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya at Barrackpore in Kolkata and also laying out permanent exhibition at Pietermaritzburg Railway Station, South Africa. Approximately 2, 255,090 pages have been uploaded on Gandhi Heritage Portal on www.gandhiheritageportal.org.

 Promotion of Folk Culture

The organizing of 8-day long Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is an exemplary endeavour to bring together the culture of all states on a single platform proving a cherishing realization for national integration besides giving due dignity to art forms and also bolster folk traditions. All seven Zonal Cultural Centres of the Ministry of Culture, Sangeet Natak Akademi and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts come together to promote our cultural inter-linkages amongst the states.

In a bid to exclusively give impetus to the traditions of the marginalized, National Tribal and North East Conclave has begun to be organized by Lalit Kala Akademi.

Artists and performers put forth the soft power of a country. Culture transcends all barriers and pervades bonhomie amongst us all endowing a rare insight of oneness. This cultural appreciation of the populace cutting across their ethnicity and religion is intended in our secular democratic state.

Pandurang Hegde

Since 1972 World Environment Day is celebrated over the world to raise awareness about forests and wider issues of environmental protection. The  theme of this year's World  Environment Day is 'Connecting People to Nature'. It implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share.

Over the years the alienation of people from nature is increasing both in urban and rural areas.

The lives of modern person is ever busy and their minds are even more busier. Under such circumstances, it is very important that we reconnect with nature to calm our minds. The green spaces available in the cities, especially trees and parks provide opportunity to reconnect people to nature.

In order to reconnect with nature, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has launched National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC) at national level. Under this programme financial assistance is given to NGOs, educational institutions, women and youth organisations for conducting awareness programmes on environmental issues . About 12000 organisations are involved in conducting some action programmes related to nature protection and solving environmental problems.

Traditionally the pilgrimage centres are mainly located in the natural surroundings, especially in the mountains or banks of the rivers. The Char Dham Yatra in Himalayas is an excellent living example of how our culture provided opportunity to people across the country to enjoy the beauty of nature with reverence to the trees, rivers and mountains. The bridle path that started from the banks of Ganga river in Rishikesh lead the people to the origins of Yamuna and Ganga rivers, that are the holy pilgrimage sites visited by millions of people.

Pilgrimage routes to Amarnath caves in Jammu and Kashmir, and to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibetan plateau in China are also places of extraordinary natural beauty that has deep spiritual value to common man. These pilgrimage routes are one of the main ways to reconnect with nature and reflect on the interconnectedness between man, nature and spirituality.

Similarly the Narmada Parikrama is another traditional pilgrimage route on which people walk along the banks of Narmada river and learn to appreciate the beauty of the river and the natural surroundings.

The existence of 166 National Parks and 515 wild life sanctuaries consisting of 2 percent of the total geographical areas of the country provides excellent opportunity for common people to enjoy and reconnect to the nature, wild life and  the green space of the country.

In order to create awareness about nature conservation the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has initiated steps towards promoting greenery in public spaces in cities and reducing waste generation of all kinds. The craze of paving the roads and open spaces with asphalt and cement in urban areas has alienated younger generation form nature. Felling old trees to broaden the roads, and allowing more space to vehicles than for those who walk or cycle leads to further alienation of urban citizen. Urban ecology can me maintained with active participation of all the stakeholders and involvement of the community.

Reconnecting with nature helps to reduce the modern day stress and brings harmony in the lives of individuals and the community. The greenery not only reduces the noise and sound pollution but it also helps to reduce the temperature, adding in mitigating climate change.

The Government of India is launching a massive waste management campaign in 4000 cities across the country on World Environment Day . Under this campaign waste bins of blue and green colours would be distributed in these cities along with the awareness drive to educate common people to adopt a life-style that inculcates the culture of cleanliness.

"I have a firm belief that we will develop a culture and the new steps that we take towards achieving cleanliness will continue. Only then will we achieve the dream of Gandhiji, achieve the kind of cleanliness that he had dreamt of," Prime Minister Modi said in his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

The government is aiming to change the attitude of people to segregate waste at its origin, dry and wet waste and to treat them accordingly. This will be the basis for cleaning up the cities that will be more nature friendly and provide the basic hygienic conditions for living. This is the logical follow up of the Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan(SBA) under which there is need to address the issue of waste generated in urban areas is creating mountains of waste that has adversely impacted the ground water and the quality of the air around the waste dumps. This is a challenging task as there is need to change the habits of people, in which they become the agents of change from each family by performing the duty or dharma of segregation  of waste.

In Indian culture, the connectedness to nature is the basis for attaining wisdom and serenity in life. The sages or the Rishi,s the learned men gained this wisdom from the forests or Aranya Culture. They lived in harmony with nature, and most of the knowledge was imbibed from their natural surroundings.

We need to inculcate these ideas into our daily lives in order to reconnect with nature. It is essential for common man to realise the air he breathes, water he drinks, the food he eats is all directly the product of nature. And linking to nature is the basis for survival of mankind.

Anupama Airy 

Ramping up its renewable and nuclear energy programmes tremendously over the past three years reflects the government’s commitment to prioritise the use of clean power in India’s energy mix.

India has already made significant strides on the Renewable Energy sector especially on the solar power front, a move that has put it on the world’s energy map. As the government marks three years of its governance, the recent decision to add 7 GW (or 7,000 mw) power capacity as nuclear power, the largest ever approval granted towards India’s domestic nuclear power programme in one go, depicts the government’s seriousness and commitment towards a sustainable low carbon growth strategy.

India’s current nuclear power capacity stands at 6.7 GW (or 6,780 mw) and the recent approval to build 10 new atomic reactors of 700 mw each will boost India’s nuclear power addition program in a big way. Another 6.7 GW (or 6,700 mw) of nuclear power projects are under construction and are expected to go on stream by 2021-22.

With likely manufacturing orders of close to Rs 70,000 crore to the domestic companies, the project is expected to help transform Indian nuclear industry and likely generate more than 33,400 jobs in direct and indirect employment.

On the renewable energy front, the numbers say it all.

When Union Minister of State for Power, RE, Coal and Mines, Piyush Goyal took over the reins of these crucial energy sectors in 2014, the solar power capacity in India stood at a mere 2.65 GW (or 2,650 MW).Within three years and as the NDA government completes three years in power, India’s solar power capacity has increased by a phenomenal 4.5 times to more than 12.2 GW (or 12,200 MW).

What is further significant to note here is that India’s solar power tariff that stood at over Rs 13 per unit in 2014 has fallen drastically and set a new record by hitting an historic low of Rs 2.44 per unit at a recent auction of 500 megawatt (MW) of capacity at the Bhadla solar park in Rajasthan.

This by any standards is a laudable achievement for India that has recently climbed up to the 26th position in World Bank's electricity accessibility ranking in the current year from 99th spot in 2014.

Interestingly, solar power in India is now cheaper than the thermal or coal based power that has been the mainstay of India’s power sector. Even India’s largest power generation company--NTPC’s average cost of power is higher than what has been achieved on the solar front.

Setting aside the doubts that have been raised, from within the industry and experts, on the sustainability of such low tariffs, Union minister of state for power, RE, coal and mines, Piyush Goyal said in a recent interview, “About the unsustainable level of the price, I have heard that story for the last three years every time we determined a lower price. I heard it when 12 cents became 10 when 10 became 8 when 8 became 5 and today we are at 4.”

Enthused by this drop in renewable energy tariffs, Goyal is confident that soon India's 60-65% of installed power generation capacity will be green energy. "Going by prices we have discovered, I am inspired to say that 60-65 per cent of India's installed capacity base will be green energy," Minister Goyal said recently.

It is also significant to point here that presently, India boats of housing the world’s largest ground based solar plant and also the world’s largest rooftop solar plant that are both in India.

On the wind power capacity front, India has overtaken countries like UK, Canada and France and reached 4th position in wind installed capacity after China, USA and Germany. India saw the highest ever wind capacity addition of 5.5 GW in 2016-17 with a record wind tariff of Rs. 3.46 per unit achieved to ensure affordable green power for all.

Talking of India’s renewable capacity as a whole including solar, wind, small hydel and bio-power, the same has witnessed a two third increase in just 3 years – from 35 GW to 57 GW. The government is targeting 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy capacity by 2022. India’s total renewable energy generation capacity is envisaged at 175 GW by 2022.

A Comparison of present solar power capacity with what existed in 2014 shows a 370% increase. From 2621 mw in 2014, India’s current solar power capacity as on March 2017 stood at 12,277 mw. Similarly, wind power capacity addition has seen a jump of 52% from 21,042 mw to 32,304 mw as on March 2017. A 14% increase each in small hydro and bio-power has also been witnessed during the same period.

The three major reforms in RE sector can be summed up as follows;

Wind sector - This sector has been moved from fixed tariff regime to competitive bidding leading to reduction in power cost by around 20%; Solar power has become affordable and tariff has been reduced by more than 75% by using plug and play model through solar parks. The third is on India reclaiming the title of Jagatguru by leading the solar revolution in the world through formation of International Solar Alliance.

In rural India, while the government’s programme of electrifying all villages by the end of this calendar year (defying its own target of December 2018) is going full-stream, solar power’s contribution cannot be overlooked considering that as many as 10 lakh solar lamps have been distributed to students to enable them to study in the absence of electricity.

That apart, providing affordable power to farmers by installing solar pumps is another major achievement of this government in the past three years. While in March 2014, around 11,000 solar pumps had been installed, this number has reached around 1.1 lakh solar pumps. The NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved almost 9 times the number achieved since independence.

K V Venkatasubramanian

Safe water, adequate sanitation and personal hygiene are indispensable for human health and progress. Lack of these can seriously impact psychological and social development of communities. The worst sufferers are women and children.

Some 300 million women and girls, mainly from underprivileged sections of society, defecate in the open, by one estimate. Deprivation of sanitation and toilet facilities imposes immense stress on women, who are forced to relieve themselves under cover of darkness. This poses threat to their safety and even life. Often, they are forced to reduce their food and water intake to minimise the need to exit home to use toilets.

Nearly 23 per cent of adolescent girls drop out of school for want and need of access to functional toilets, clean water and proper sanitation. These also affect children’s learning, safety and quality of their lives.

Unsafe water, poor hygiene practices and inadequate sanitation contribute to high incidences of diarrhoeal diseases, and under-five mortality caused by pneumonia, neonatal disorders and undernutrition, according to UNICEF. Contamination causes infection.  Absence of sanitation leads to contamination and results in infection. This contamination is a major cause of diarrhoea and leads to other major diseases such as jaundice, cholera, schistosomiasis (snail fever, caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes) and trachoma (a chronic contagious bacterial infection of the eye). Diarrhoeal diseases are also responsible for stunting in children (low height-for-age).

Poor sanitation and its resultant diseases have a telling effect on everyone and a country as a whole. It imposes heavy burden on human, economic and environmental health. Hence, a clean nation alone can make sustained progress.

Realising the magnitude of this problem, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call to end open defecation by providing clean toilets and improving sanitation. Nearly three years ago, he launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) on October 2, 2014. The SBM offers a promising solution to address the issues of sanitation and water, and aims to achieve universal sanitation coverage and make India open defecation free by 2019, the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

The mission’s objectives are also to eradicate manual scavenging, effect behavioural change in healthy sanitation practices, and generate awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health. It has two sub-missions— SBM-Urban (SBM-U) and SBM Gramin (SBM-G). The SBM-U focuses on making urban India free from open defecation and achieving 100 percent scientific management of municipal solid waste in 4,041 statutory towns. The SBM-G intends to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation.

The progress on various fronts is being measured continually and updates are posted on the dashboard of the SBM website. So far, the advancement is impressive. Under SBM (Gramin), household toilet availability has improved by 22 percent to 64 percent since 2014; and over 2 lakh villages have self-declared to be open defecation free (ODF). Similarly, under SBM (urban), almost 32 lakh individual and community (and public) toilets have been built and 662 cities are ODF. Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Kerala have achieved 100 percent ODF status.

The Clean India campaign has, innovatively, induced a healthy competition among cities. The focus is on monitoring outcomes—the number of ODF cities and towns. A public survey places Indore as the cleanest city, and New Delhi (Lutyens Zone) among the top 10 clean cities in India. Gonda in UP is at the bottom of sanitation rankings of the survey of 434 cities. The study assessed cities and towns largely on improvement in processing of municipal solid waste and ending open defecation.

Infrastructure creation and citizen participation have created visibility on ground and begun showing promising results. Through several initiatives, the campaign has shaped a conducive environment for citizen participation. A social movement has steadily gathered impetus. Continually, the limelight is on stirring up attitudinal and behavioural change among society so as to make it a people’s movement.

Intensive multimedia communication campaigns through various media streams, ads on social media, introduction of apps, and billboards on streets remind public about the prime minister’s rallying cry. Celebrities have been roped in as brand ambassadors to motivate viewers and listeners on broadcast media to understand the importance of sanitation.

The mission stresses on toilets as key to women’s security. Ads on television and signs on village walls advise families to prevent their womenfolk from defecating in the open. To further the toilet construction programme, a new ad campaign on social media depicts women demanding their right to sanitation. The video ad, which highlights the plight of women, advocates a change in mindset among rural men folk about open defecation.

The campaign’s consistent thrust on cleanliness around historic monuments, public places and landmark cities--including heritage sights like Varanasi, Mathura, Agra and Lucknow—has changed public sensitivity about tourist places.

Toilet-building and sanitation are the two buzz words today. Clean India is not business as usual anymore—living with poor sanitation, that kills 50,000 people annually. Rather, it has stirred the collective conscience of people and has become everyone’s business—to throw filth out and bring health and happiness in.

Vinod Behl

Despite fiscal constraints, NDA government is relentlessly focusing on energizing rural economy as engine of  growth and uplifting rural poor through a number of key initiatives/revamped policies related to rural housing & infrastructure, farm income, job creation and entrepreneurship promotion.

Modi government's rural development agenda revolves around its development mantra- "Sabka saath, sabka vikas' (inclusive development), ensuring that the benefits of development reach poor and under privileged.Significantly, the people  put their stamp of approval on government's development model in recently held assembly elections.

The government's intent to rejuvenate rural economy by giving a fillip to rural development, was clearly demonstrated through pro- poor budget theme and massive allocation for rural development. Against budgetary allocation of Rs 80194 crore for rural development in 2013-14  budget during UPA regime, the NDA government hiked it to Rs 87765 crore in FY 17 and for FY18, rural, agriculture and allied sectors are to get Rs 1.87 lakh crore of allocation.

Fully recognising that housing and infrastructure are the main drivers of economic development, the  NDA government put budgetary focus on it, right from its interim budget in 2014-15 when allocation for National Housing Bank (NHB), was increased to Rs 8000 crore to support rural housing as part of government's flagship programme of 'Housing for All by 2022'.

As per the Working Group on Rural Housing for 12th Five Year Plan, there's a shortage of 14.8 million houses as in 2015. .Signalling government's priority for rural housing, budgetary allocation under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), was raised from Rs 15000 crore to Rs 23000 crore and a target of completing one  crore houses for homeless, has been fixed for 2017-18.A special interest subsidy provided under PM scheme, is bound to give further boost to housing , especially EWS and low- cost housing, favourably impacting rural India.

To boost rural infrastructure, Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rubran Mission has been launched for creating integrated project based infrastructure in rural areas, with a separate budgetary allocation of Rs 14389 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), to augment road connectivity of villages.

Modi government is lighting up the lives of people with a dedicated Deen Dayal Upadhaya Jyoti Yojana to augment power supply with an aim to provide round the clock power at affordable rates through energy reforms focusing on green, clean energy. In 2017- 18 budget,there is a target of electrification of all villages by May 2018. The government has made a remarkable achievement of crossing 50 GW of installed capacity in green energy in 2016-17, almost at par with thermal energy. There is a target to have 175000 MW of installed capacity of renewable energy  by end 2022.

Affordable energy being the key theme of the government, over two crore BPL families have already been provided LPG connections within one year of the launch of pro- poor scheme -'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY) and by March 2019, almost entire BPL population   will get covered .  

In addition to tackling the  problem of homelessness, the government is making all out efforts to meet the serious challenge of rural distress caused by agrarian crisis, fully realizing that agricultural development is key to tackle poverty. A 2016 Rural Development Report by International Fund for Agriculture Development(IFAD) says that price incentives for agriculture can act as a catalyst  in farm income,leading to poverty elimination. Keeping this in mind, Ministry of Agriculture & Allied Services, with a record allocation of Rs 187223 crore for 2017-18, is working on e-National Agriculture Market (eNAM), to create a unified national market to help farmers get better price for their crop, with a target to double farmers income by 2022. A number of other related measures include providing comprehensive crop insurance to farmers and increasing  crop coverage area  from 30 percent in 2016-17 to 40 percent in 2017-18 to 50 percent by 2018-19 under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, besides increasing farm productivity by improving soil health, use of technology, undertaking water conservation programme in 50000 gram panchayats and by raising outlay for Long- Term Irrigation Fund to Rs 40000 crore in 2017-18. Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), the target is to provide water to every field in 5 years.

As the root cause of rural distress is income deficit,the government has attached greater priority to several programmes related to job creation, skill development and entrepreneurship, with a view to enhance income. Under the new target- specific(2019) plan ,'National Rural Livelihood Mission', the government is putting strong focus on sustainable livelihood by targeting women self help groups and reaching out to all 7 crore rural BPL families and linking them to sustainable livelihood opportunities, in order to come out of poverty and lead a decent life.  MGNERGA, in its revamped form, with record allocation of Rs 48000 crore for FY 17, is being used as an efficient tool to support incomes for marginal farmers and landless labourers. On an average, 25-30 lakh works were completed annually till FY 2013-14 whereas 51.3 lakh works got completed in FY 2016-17. Rural Development Ministry is also making use of satellite based geo- tagging to check any leakages and assess actual asset creation under MGNREGA. With mass scale opening of  Jandhan bank accounts of urban and rural poor, 96 percent MGNREGA wages  are now being directly transferred to their accounts under Direct Benefit Scheme, compared to just 13 percent in 2013-14 under UPA government. 

The skill development programme, covering 45 lakh households, has been making a significant contribution to give a boost to Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), the flagship programme to provide loans  to promote rural entrepreneurship. The success of this scheme, aimed at unorganised sector, can be gauged from the fact that in FY 18, a record  Rs 1.80 lakh crore of loans have been sanctioned, immensely benefiting  entrepreneurs. Alternate employment is being provided to  youth by providing cheaper passenger vehicles to rural entrepreneurs. And under National Rural Livelihood Mission, government is planning more rural women led Ajeewika stores to provide them outlet to sell products produced by self help groups, directly to consumers. 

To ensure inclusive development, the government is promoting digital inclusion by providing mobile connectivity to over 55000 villages by March 2019 and initiating measures like Jandhan accounts debit cards, Aadhar Pay, Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), to put an end to middle men and ensure that benefits of various government schemes directly reach beneficiaries through digital transactions that touched 1569.3 crore in FY 17 till January. There is a target of 2500 crore digital transactions in 2017-18.

Obviously, the government has shown its commitment to improve the lot of 22 crore rural people by way of providing shelter, livelihood, affordable power supply, clean drinking water, affordable healthcare, sanitation( including toilets) and cooking gas.  PM Modi has put greater focus on governance by starting monthly review meetings with bureaucracy with a view to tone up delivery system by plugging any loopholes and leakages, thereby ensuring effective implementation so that rural people can reap the benefits of all pro- poor and pro- rural schemes launched by the government.