The first anniversary of the Narendra Modi Government has, quite predictably, become an occasion for some media bile-spewing. The very same people who didn’t smell the winds of change blowing across India a year ago and who issued grim warnings of impending fascism have finally had their chance to unburden themselves. Their report card of Modi’s government hasn’t come entirely as a surprise. Regardless of whatever the government has or has not achieved in the past 365 days, the verdict would have been exactly the same: disappointing, too slow for comfort and lacking imagination.
Yet, even the contrived exercise of stalwarts, whose only real complaint is that the Prime Minister didn’t invite them for dinner or give their channel/publication an ‘exclusive’ or two, serves a purpose. The terms on which the Modi government is being judged constitute a big change. We are not being subjected to reports of an “assertive PM” or even the “hate agenda” of letterhead organisations that come together only when a camera crew is around. Whether his critics are aware or not, the fact is that the Modi government has succeeded in making governance and performance the criterion on which it is going to be judged. Yes, there may be the odd prima donna who will berate the PM for being a narcissist and spending “30 minutes before a mirror each day”— yes, I did hear a senior broadcaster make this astonishing claim to an audience in London two Saturdays ago. But in the main, the government is being judged on terms it has set for itself.
The shift is actually quite refreshing. When the government is berated for going a bit too slow on economic reforms, particularly in improving the ease of doing business, it implies that they believe deregulation and the injection of rule-based systems are a good thing. In other words, despite the venom routinely poured on the PM for something or the other, the validity of his agenda has been accepted. I would go so far as to argue that the pressure on the Modi government to run faster is an entirely positive development. The more the pressure, the greater will be sense of urgency in the government.
Not that the PM has relaxed his pressure on the accelerator. The one thing that the people of India will not charge the Modi government with is taking it easy. The PM has kept a punishing pace since the day he assumed charge and it would be fair to say that his ministers have tried damned hard to keep up with him. Not all have succeeded but that is not for the want of trying.
The same can be said of the bureaucracy that, quite reassuringly, has made its working habits a little more purposeful. Of course, just attending their duties on time isn’t enough. There are a large numbers of babus who are yet to shift gear and they may be the ones who are anxious to revert to their states. When he became PM in 2004, Manmohan Singh had identified administrative reforms as his first priority. His diagnosis was entirely right but, tragically, he lacked the political clout to make any change. Modi hasn’t shouted administrative reforms from the rooftops but he can’t be unmindful of its importance. In the next four years Modi has to inch his way and break down bureaucratic resistance to making the civil services fit for a 21st century purpose.
The same mindset change must also accompany industry. Some industrialists have complained of the PM’s supposed inaccessibility. If true, it sounds like a positive development. For decades Indian industry has complained of excessive government interference and complex procedures that necessitate lobbying. If automatic clearances based on a rule-based system is becoming the norm, there is no need for a ‘durbari’ system to continue as before. Crony capitalism has been a curse and if Modi is creating transparent systems to circumvent it, the development has to be encouraged and given a boost by civil society. It is time business leaders get down to the task of business and address the big challenge of creating shareholders wealth. The government can facilitate the process but the demand for being spoon-fed by the government is preposterous.
In an intervention last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke proudly of having put corruption on the back burner. It is still too early to celebrate this achievement since corruption in the lower rungs of government is still a problem. But the trends are encouraging. Its full success will depend on the extent to which the government changes the rules to make the system as little discretionary as possible.
Whether his critics like it or not, India has experienced a monumental change in the past year. The foundations of a modern government that is well placed to encourage growth have been built. That is no mean achievement. Now comes the equally difficult business of rebuilding and infrastructure upgradation. The world is eyeing India with keen interest and if the Modi government continues on the path it has travelled in the past 12 months, we will be seeing the emergence of another economic power. For a country that has unerringly missed the bus on crucial occasions, this is the change that is overdue. Modi shouldn’t worry about the brickbats. He should just keep calm and carry on.
