No government in India has ever been subjected to such intense scrutiny after being only 100 days in office than the Narendra Modi -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) administration. The reasons for this are, of course, obvious. One, Modi came to power riding a gargantuan wave of expectations, not least because of his personal campaigning, the likes of which the country had never seen before. Two, Modi remains a polarizing figure among a large number of Indians, who spend perhaps a disproportionate of amount of their time trying to find flaws and threats in anything that Modi or his government says or does.

So, let me add my two cents— ₹ 1.21 at 11.33am on 4 September—to the scrutiny and go ahead and say that I believe we have a good government, and things can only get better. Here are my reasons:

• We have a Prime Minister. This is a big change from the last five years, when we had a venerable gentleman who seemed to spend his days watching the peacocks on the lawns of his official residence, and a lady whose sole aim was to make her son the next Prime Minister by doling out freebies recklessly and wastefully. Now we have a man at the helm who has his cabinet totally in control—unlike his predecessor—and whose workday, by all accounts, resembles that of Hercules during a particularly busy period of his labours. This is a very good thing.

• Yes, everyone who voted the NDA to power expected radical reforms from Day One. The budget seems to have disappointed even many diehard supporters in industry and academia. But clearly, this government is looking to play a Test match and not a T20. Its aim is to fix the existing administrative machinery and government delivery mechanisms—and 1.25 billion Indians would unanimously agree that they need a lot of fixing—and then get to the big stuff. In other words, see through the opening conditions on the first day, tame the pitch and then think of speeding up the run rate. That too makes sense.

• Yet, it will be wrong to say that the budget had nothing in it. As I have written before in another forum, it did indicate a clear change in intent and direction. It’s just that the government did not want to make a hue and cry about it, which is entirely in line with the tone Modi has set as Prime Minister—do your work efficiently and eschew the dramatics.

The budget put more money in the hands of the taxpayer (not much more, but given the state of the economy the NDA has inherited, even that little bit was a brave act, and definitely a statement of ideology). It attempted to encourage entrepreneurship; in an interview, finance minister Arun Jaitley said what I believe to be the most important economic statement he has made: “We want to move from an entitlement economy to an opportunities economy." He set high divestment targets, but mentioned it only in passing in his speech. He explained later that speaking more about it would have caused disruptive debate that the government could currently do without.

• As expected, this government is much more business-friendly than the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Of course, after the UPA, almost any government would look like it was dressed to kill for business. But, as Modi has said, referring to his Gujaratiness: “Business is in my blood, money is in my blood." As a Reuters report put it: “From tax policy, land acquisition issues, environment approvals, manufacturing to labour laws, the government is slowly putting in place building blocks to ensure India regains the confidence of investors while removing some of the hurdles."

Clearly, Modi believes that private investment—whether domestic or foreign—is key to developing infrastructure, give that much-needed boost to manufacturing and get the economy heading northward again. And crucial to that is to bridge the trust deficit that has grown between investors and government over the last some years.

• Yet, Modi has made it clear in word and deed that though he is pro-capitalism, he won’t allow crony capitalism under his watch. Note the conspicuous silence today of those who confidently went about predicting before the elections that an NDA government would be run by the Ambanis and the Adanis. There is now a story going around that the Prime Minister rapped Piyush Goyal, minister for power and coal, for meeting industrialist Gautam Adani at a five-star hotel restaurant. Whatever the veracity of the story, it is known that a fiat has gone out that if ministers have to meet businessmen, they should meet them in their own offices.

• Modi appears to believe in the East Asian model of development—economic growth through export-oriented manufacturing. This is clear from his exhortation in his Independence Day speech to domestic manufacturers to export more, and to foreign industries to “come, make in India". That is the only way the economy has even an outside chance of creating the quantum of employment opportunities that is absolutely critical today. As we all know, 10 million young Indians are coming into the job market every year, and we are creating jobs less than 10% of that number. And the services sector, which accounts for more than 60% of India’s GDP, will not be of much help there, since it employs only 27% of the workforce. There is no doubt that the East Asian model has worked. Of course, the government now has to enthuse investors enough to pull it off. But the intent is absolutely correct.

• The UPA government, in its last two years, had announced extremely ambitious targets for the infrastructure sector, but hardly any projects saw light of day. The new NDA government is hell-bent on creating world-class infrastructure. Of course, I believe that spending money on bullet trains is foolish—bullet trains can merely be ultra-expensive showpieces, and that money can be used much better on improving the existing railway system. But the overall determination to improve connectivity—whether it be road, rail, ports, waterways—is undeniable. Modi has already got Japan to agree to bring in $35 billion over the next five years into this sector, and he hopes to persuade China to also invest heavily. If this government can rapidly improve our infrastructure, the impact on the economy—and on people’s lives and livelihoods—will be truly dramatic.

• The NDA government may have been sacking UPA-appointed state governors left right and centre, but as far as the economy goes, it has no problems carrying on with UPA policies that it believes will be beneficial. It has not junked Aadhaar unique identification number programme, but has begun implementing its final stages. One of Aadhaar’s most important objectives was to have a bank account for every Indian, and the Modi government is pursuing that aggressively. Obviously, there will many glitches here—bank managers eager to meet targets will open additional bank accounts for those who already have one, and so on—but this idea, if implemented properly, can transform the entire Indian welfare state, slashing corruption across the board and greatly empowering the poor and needy.

• “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," John F. Kennedy had famously said in his inauguration speech. Similarly, in his Independence Day address, Modi asked all Indians to introspect and clean their own acts up before putting their fingers at others. Universal sanitation is the theme that has been most mentioned in the media—Modi is certainly the first Prime Minister in India to talk about defecation from the ramparts of the Red Fort—but his call was essentially for a national regeneration, from the individual level to the societal. This is a powerful message, and certainly goes beyond empty sloganeering. No Prime Minister till date has had the guts to ask the common Indian to squarely share the blame for the state of the nation, and point out that there is something rotten in our behavioural patterns that stands in the way of progress. Modi gets my complete respect for showing this blunt courage.

• Lastly, in the area least expected—foreign policy—Modi has excelled. Everything he has done till now indicates that he has a very clear vision of India’s place in the geopolitical arena. Consider the various steps: inviting all the SAARC leaders to his swearing in; charming Bhutan and Nepal and building stronger ties with these two nation-states; acting tough with Pakistan; attempting to form a close alliance with Japan, which could turn out to be the most valuable relationship India has ever had; making it clear to China through oblique comments—and the commissioning of highways along the Chinese border in the North East—that there’s a new and less timid government in charge in New Delhi today, yet at the same time welcoming Chinese investment and friendlier ties. We wait to see what his meetings with US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the next two months yield. But one can be sure that he will not come back empty-handed except for encomiums like “the most respected leader in the world", as his predecessor did.

I could list more reasons, but 10, I think, is a good number.

Yes, critics point out that there are several more things this government could have done, or done otherwise. The goods and services tax still looks like a distant dream; economists are split down the middle over whether India’s stand on food subsidies at the WTO was correct or not; there are doubts being expressed about excessive centralization of power; and so on and so forth. And of course there are the usual fears about “secularism in danger" being aired.

One should comment on the last point. The Congress fought the last Lok Sabha elections almost entirely on the secularism plank, and was rejected lock stock and barrel. Maybe, the aam aadmi has moved on from this tired breast-beating about a concept that everyone across the spectrum would agree has degenerated over the decades from what India’s founding fathers had in mind. Maybe the people are moving on. Maybe they just want better lives. Better lives, after all, are the most secular gift that a state can give a nation’s citizens. And on the whole, if its first 100 days are any indication, the Modi government seems committed to delivering that gift.

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