My thoughts on what India's new Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi's development agenda is likely to be.

1. MODIFIED INDIA
- Nimal C Namboodiripad
I heard discussions in at least three mainline TV channels that although the New Indian Prime
Minister designate Narendra Modi has spoken of development he has not given clear indications as
to what he exactly proposes to do. I am not the learned experts these people are and I have listened
to only snippets of Modi’s campaign speeches, but I have heard enough to collate an image of what
he intends to do in my mind. Many of these have been delinated in an interview he gave to the
Times of India. But just in case…
1. “Democracy has to be participative and inclusive and not just representative.” He is clear
that he will collect opinions from the common man to understand what he wants and then
create a blue print for its implementation. From news reports the BJP cadres are already in
talks with the professors of Benares Hindu University and well known personalities of
Varanasi to get their ideas on how to once more make Kashi the spiritual destination of the
world.
2. The fact that causes have to be treated than the symptoms is clear from the example that he
gave of the high percentage of dropouts among girls in schools in Gujarat and how his
government over came the problem. They found that the root cause of the distressing
situation was with the lack of separate toilets for girls in schools and the government
decided to build 75,000 toilets in schools across Gujarat. And the dropout levels it seems
have come down drastically!! His portrayal of this case study may have caused mirth among
his critics but he has had the last laugh in the elections.
3. “The key areas are water, electricity and jobs”. He has drawn out a plan for linking the rivers
of India and the most ambitious of the lot is the Ganga-Cauvery canal. Naturally this has to
go through Orissa and Seemandhra and no wonder Chandrababu Naidu was only too happy
to support Modi. If this interlinking happens not only farmers will be greatly benefited but it
will provide a cheap mode of transportation for commodities also. What the Gujarat models
show is that these irrigation channels will be given a unique roofing of solar panels to
provide alternate source of energy, thus taking out two birds with one stone.
4. And speaking of Ganga, cleaning up the river is up there in priority in his agenda. In fact he
quoted the example of Singapore and said that the people have to help the government in
keeping the country clean and Varanasi can be the starting point of this revolution.
5. He spoke of a second green revolution and there will be focus on agro infrastructure and
cutting down on middlemen through an aggressive marketing network either at the
governmental or cooperative level. May also relook at maximum support price mechanism
to help farmers.
6. Infrastructure and manufacturing have been Modi’s pet hobby horse and both are areas
which provide jobs in huge numbers. A network of beautifully laid out roads will not only
improve accessibility and reduce transportation time and cost but also give thousands of
people jobs.
7. In manufacturing he assured that not only big businesses will be encouraged but also
MSME’s and he spoke of an 85% growth in the sector in Gujarat. He emphasized that
MSME’s are what brings in a huge amount of job opportunities.

2. 8. Will Gujarat model work in other states? Each state has its own unique topography and
resources and what works in one state may not necessarily work in others. Local leaders of
the BJP spoke of discussions at the centre where they have identified different areas of focus
for different states. For example tourism is the area of focus for Jammu Kashmir and the
port terminal and consequent export of commodities like spices, rubber and seafood that of
Kerala.
9. He prefers a lean ministry and the one at the centre most probable won’t be different. It
can’t be as small as the Gujarat one as the scales are different, but most of the
implementation of projects will be done by the executive and the elected representatives
will be more concerned about policy documents and legislation. This will also cut costs at the
centre.
10. How to motivate the babudom? By asking them to select projects and plans of their choice
and giving them clearance to work on it. When the idea is yours there is more ownership
and accountability for the projects, more energy in the implementation and of course more
satisfaction when it is completed.
11. The states and central projects will be given allocation of budget based on the need and
further allocations will be made purely on merit and the performance of the government or
official concerned.
12. Regarding corruption, he is clear that the higher the automation and computerization, the
higher the transparency, speed of operations and lesser the chance of bribery and below the
table transactions.
13. It is supposed that this will also help control costs in land transactions and cut down on black
money transactions. And on the subject of black money, he has assured the Swiss bank list
will be brought back into the limelight and the money repatriated.
14. What these will mean is that the government will have more money to play with, in the
nature of tax returns which can be used to provide welfare or much needed infrastructure.
15. Inflation will be adjusted on supply side and not by cutting demand through increased
interest. In fact, his statement that housing for all – planning to rework the NREGA scheme
to include asset creation - may translate to less interest on housing loans.
16. Counterfeit and black money are another reason for the uncontrollable nature of the
present inflation and how it is tackled will be important. A decision had been taken during
the UPA regime that all bigger notes that were printed before 2005 will be taken off the
market but whether there will be any other measures remain to be seen. One thing that
could be done is do away completely with the 1000 rupee notes and make all bigger
transactions mandatory through plastic money which means it will be accounted through
the banking system.
17. As far as the pending cases on scams are concerned he is clear that he would leave it to the
judiciary and restrict himself and his team to a legislative role.
18. Making Jammu Kashmir and the North East a part of India not only physically but mentally –
from the side of the locals – is an issue that has been addressed in the BJP election
manifesto. Doing away with Article 370 and integrating these states into main line India will
do a lot of good for peace in the region. But it is likely to be vehemently opposed. Allied to
this, good relationships with the neighbouring countries will rocket not only India but Asia
into the next level.

3. 19. He is clear that India will not make any overt aggressive move, “Bharat has never attacked
any other country”, towards its neighbours, but at the same time will not take any
infringement from their side lying down. Disputes will be resolved across the table through
dialogue. He has also vowed to treat terrorism seriously and give the Indian soldiers all the
necessary material support in terms of arms and equipment and all moral support too.
20. He has promised to tackle Maoism on two fronts - the carrot and the stick policy – through
development of the poor and marginalized so that they don’t feel frustrated and
antagonistic and through the strong hand of law so that they don’t misuse the freedom they
have.
21. Regarding the functioning of the parliament he has assured that he himself is not planning to
take a day off in the sixty months that he will be in power and he will try to take along all the
parliamentary members including the opposition in all policy matters. Sab ke saath… He says
all parliamentary members are here to serve Ma, the country.
I may be wrong in my interpretations of what I heard and read and there are so many other
things to discuss, many which are important that I may have missed out. But this was more of an
exercise to get things clear in my head, and since I did it anyway I thought I will share it with you
all.