Modi prioritises policy, streamlines bureaucracy

Saswat Panigrahi

Keeping with his motto of ‘minimum government and maximum governance’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spelt out a to-do list for bureaucrats.

The aim is to bridge the difference between the Government departments and Ministers, to expedite decision-making process and to streamline the delivery mechanism.

The idea is to give bureaucracy a greater role in decision-making process with thrust on transparency and effective governance and to galvanise it by bringing in a new work culture. Aimed at curtailing the proverbial red-tapism, this is the first such attempt in the independent India towards taking administration closer to the people.

There are numerous rules which have become outdated in the current times. Instead of serving the purpose of governance, they stand as stumbling blocks between Government and the people. As a people’s leader, Modi acknowledges this and is working to change things.

Narendra Modi’s Government is swiftly doing away with the archaic rules and working on streamlining administrative rules and procedures to make them accessible to the masses.

This is precisely the reason the new Prime Minister is emphasising administrative overhaul. His message to the Secretaries is a means to that end.

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Modi’s oath-taking a proud moment for India

Saswat Panigrahi

It’s a day of reckoning in India’s history. Narendra Modi is taking oath as the 15th Prime Minister of India in the forecourt of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan on the evening of May 26.

The day epitomises the rise of a common man. A boy who once sold tea in Gujarat’s Vadnagar is now the Prime Minister of the billion plus nation. It is indeed a proud moment for Indian democracy.

Narendra Modi is the man who overcame every obstacle by sheer hard work. As an RSS pracharak, he preached the essence of cultural nationalism. As a BJP general secretary, he was a quintessential organiser. As a ‘people’s Chief Minister’ he has revolutionised Gujarat. Modi is the leader the nation has been awaiting since long.

Gone is the elitist Nehruvian era which dominated the Indian political scenario for decades together. Also obliterated is the Dynasty and the party they led. In a sense, it is India’s genuine tryst with the nation.

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Modi victory shows corrupt Congress its place in history

Saswat Panigrahi

The landslide victory of Narendra Modi-led BJP in the Lok Sabha election marks a watershed in Indian politics.

The BJP has stormed to power by winning a staggering 282 of its own, 10 seats more than the majority mark. The tally of BJP-led NDA rose to a record 336.

The scale of BJP’s victory could be read from the fact that no single party got an absolute majority on its own since 1984. Thanks to the Modi wave, BJP has done the virtually impossible in an era of coalition politics.

The Congress-led UPA has been booted out of the office with its tally dipping to a measly 60 seats. The Gandhi family-owned Congress bagged a mere 44 seats, not even the minimum number required to be recognised as a legitimate Opposition.

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BJP manifesto not for party but for people

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP manifesto has charted a blue print for nation. Titled ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ the 42-page-long vision document vows to end corruption, rebuild economy, develop infrastructure, generate employment and make governance accessible to the masses.

Never before in the history of Parliamentary elections, had the nation seen such a manifesto.

The most striking salient feature of the BJP manifesto is the focus on Centre-State relations. The BJP wants to evolve a model where the national development will be driven by the development of States. To that effect, the BJP has promised to set up a Team India initiative which will include the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers as equal partners.

Second, the BJP manifesto promises to decentralise power for making governance accessible to the masses. The BJP has pledged to convert the representative democracy to a participatory one, where the people have a say in the governance system. The party has promised a governance model which is policy driven and people centric. A model which could offer ‘maximum Governance’ and ‘minimum Government’.

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‘Vote for India’ is the new buzzword this poll

Saswat Panigrahi

The nine-phased Lok Sabha election has begun with six constituencies going for polls on Monday.

This general election is broadly a fight between two major national parties, the BJP and the Congress. While BJP has a leader who has moved India with his rallying cry ‘Nation First’, a tottering Congress — sans a leader — is giving false slogans and making fake promises with no takers.

India is choking on Congress’s rank misgovernance in the last 10 years. The Congress-led UPA has inflicted serious damage on the country. Scam after scam have hit the nation hard. Thanks to economic mismanagement under the leadership of an economist Prime Minister, the nation is suffering an economic downslide. The macroeconomic parameters are declining steadily.

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BJP’s poll anthem is a shot in the arm for nationalists

Saswat Panigrahi

The BJP’s poll anthem is a veritable melody of refreshing nationalism. The song promises to defeat the forces inimical to India’s interest.

The song aims at uniting India affected with divisive politics and inculcates the essence of ‘Nation First’.

The song is a straight dig at Congress which has gifted the country wave after wave of scams, messed up our economy, subverted democratic institutions, divided India on communal lines and compromised with the national security.

The song, which features Narendra Modi, directly connects the hearts of the countrymen when the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate says:

“Woh loot rahe hain sapno ko
Mein chain se kaise so jaaun
Woh bech rahe hain Bharat ko
Khamosh mein kaise ho jaaun”

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Congress manifesto should be torn up, thrown away

Saswat Panigrahi

The Congress’s poll manifesto is out. Titled ‘Your Voice Our Pledge’, the manifesto comes with a set of fake promises.

The foremost striking feature of the manifesto is that the Congress vows to push the GDP growth rate to 8 per cent plus in the next three years if it comes to power again.

Let’s have a reality check. The GDP growth of the country has slipped to a measly 4.9 per cent, thanks to economic mismanagement under the leadership of the so-called economist Prime Minister. The nation is suffering an economic downslide. The macroeconomic parameters are steadily declining.

Now a flashback to 2004, the year when the Congress-led UPA took over the reins from the BJP-led NDA. The country’s economy was in a pretty good shape. The GDP growth stood at a whopping 8.4 per cent. But the Congress messed up the economy and pushed the country into an era of gloom and doom.

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PMO spreading canards about Gujarat, BJP seeks apology

Saswat Panigrahi

Congress’s dirty tricks department is burning the midnight oil this poll season to defame Gujarat by using spurious data. Pankaj Pachauri, adviser to the Prime Minister, tweeted some misleading data to make the point that Gujarat doesn’t figure in the list of top 10 States in the field of economic development.

Pankaj Pachauri said that among 19 States, Gujarat had the slowest growth rate at 9.52 per cent in year 2012-2013. Pachauri had put up a graphic on his Twitter handle, which has listed the growth rate of 19 States, while placing Gujarat at the bottom.

Pankaj Pachauri’s assertion is in sharp contrast to the figures of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) which suggest that Gujarat’s GDP actually grew by 12.69 per cent in 2012-2013.

According to the report by Economic Freedom of the States of India (EFSI), 2013, Gujarat tops States in economic freedom. The report states that Gujarat has widened its lead at the top of the economic freedom table, with an index score of 0.65 on a scale from 0 to 1.0.

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Modi’s visit infuses new life into Odisha BJP

Saswat Panigrahi

A sedate BJP unit in Odisha virtually got a new lease of life after the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s first political outing in the State in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Modi’s Vijay Sankalp Samabesh in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday witnessed a huge turnout. Never before has Odisha seen such a mammoth rally. A two-lakh strong crowd gathered at Baramunda ground in the State capital to listen to their favourite leader. Those who attended the rally were not just BJP karyakatas, a sizable chunk of the participants comprised common people — mostly youth from various parts of the State. The temple city of Bhubaneswar was completely ‘Modified’.

NaMo must have returned happy after receiving such a massive public response in Odisha which he might not have expected. This, despite the State unit having been dormant since 2009.

Ever since the party parted ways with the BJD, no central BJP leader has taken Naveen Patnaik head on like Modi did.

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History will not judge Manmohan Singh kindly

Saswat Panigrahi

Lies, lies and more lies! This is what defines Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ‘rare’ Press conference held last Friday.

This was Manmohan’s third Press conference in his nine-and-half years long tenure where he declared that he won’t seek third term and would transfer the baton to a new person after the general election.

In any case, it is not like he has a choice. The next Prime Minister however, will not be from the UPA. He will be from the BJP-led NDA as the nation is waiting to vote out the corrupt Congress.

But the Prime Minister is sanguine about another term for the UPA. “I have full confidence that the next Prime Minister will be from the UPA,” he said.

Rampant corruption is the most striking features of UPA’s governance. Manmohan Singh’s Government has gifted the country a series of scams ranging from the 2G spectrum scam to the Commonwealth Games loot, from Railgate to Coalgate and from Steelgate to Choppergate.

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Modi remains unblemished despite Congress’s spinmills

Saswat Panigrahi

It was a witch-hunt destined to fail. The Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court has rejected the protest petition filed by Zakia Jafri against the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT)’s clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 58 others in the 2002 Gulberg Society riot case.

Zakia Jafri is the wife of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was among the 69 people killed by a mob during the 2002 Gujarat violence that followed the Sabarmati Express carnage. The SIT closure report had noted that it was Ehsan Jafri who fired at the mob outside the Gulberg Housing Society and ‘the provoked mob stormed the society and set it on fire’.

Zakia Jafri contends that Narendra Modi and others should be tried for ‘their role in the conspiracy which facilitated the State-wide violence’. “No conspiracy can be proved against the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet as they showed alacrity in requisitioning the Army and took necessary steps to control the situation”, said Metropolitan Magistrate BJ Ganatra while pronouncing the verdict in the open court.

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Assembly election results prove Congress’s days are numbered

Saswat Panigrahi

BJP’s 4/0 drubbing to the Congress in the Assembly election semi-finals in the run-up to the 2014 finals, sends one message loud and clear — an anti-Congress wave is sweeping the country and people are looking forward to the BJP’s coming to power.

In Madhya Pradesh, the country’s second largest State, it was Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s good governance which won the election. Shivraj steered BJP to a record third straight win delivering a crushing defeat upon the Congress. By winning a whopping 165 seats, the BJP secured a two-thirds majority in the 230-member Assembly. The Congress was finished with 58. The extent of the Congress’s rout was such that the party drew a blank in as many as 17 districts of the State.

In Chhattisgarh again, it was Raman Singh’s good governance that came out victorious dismissing the anti-incumbency factor. Like his Madhya Pradesh counterpart, Raman Singh led the BJP to a record third straight win. This dashed the Congress’s wild hopes of wresting back power, which mainly cashed in on the sympathy factor in the aftermath of the deadly Maoist attack in Sukhma that eliminated a section of its frontline leadership in the State. The BJP had a comfortable win securing 49 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the Congress managed to win only 39 seats.

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