OPED | Friday, August 28, 2009 | Email | Print | 
At the end of 100 days...
Kalyani Shankar
The UPA Government’s pre-poll promises of generating jobs, strengthening internal security and empowering women through electoral quotas, all to be fulfilled within the first 100 days, have proved to be no more than tallk talk. What happens next?
To rate a Government’s performance 100 days’ work may not be the right parameter. This becomes amply apparent in the case of the Congress-led UPA Government, which retained power on the strength of promises that it would fulfil its wishlist within the first 100 days of the Government.
While the official report card of the Government is yet to be known, general perception of the Manmohan Singh Government is that of a half empty-half full kind.
When the Cabinet was sworn in after the Lok Sabha election, there was a lot of feel-good factor for the Government. People’s expectations were high as the Congress emerged stronger, sending signals for a stable Government, and also because this time the Government was not to face any irksome opposition from its earstwhile Left partners. Except for the initial problem of finding berths for allies like the DMK, the Government formation was quite smooth.
The first broad contours of what the Manmohan Singh Government wanted to do during its second term were spelt out in the President’s address to the joint session of the 15th Lok Sabha on June 5.
The President listed 24 things the UPA Government would do in its first 100 days in office. They included internal security and preservation of communal harmony and stepping up of economic growth, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing and services. The President also mentioned consolidation of the existing flagship programmes for employment, education, health and rural infrastructure besides introduction of new food security and skill development programmes. Women empowerment, including early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, and constitutional amendment to provide 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies were also mentioned. Action for welfare of weaker sections and minorities besides disabled and senior citizens and governance reform were the other points covered in the President’s address. The other important areas were prudent fiscal management and energy security.
How much of these ambitious proposals have been concretised? While the Right to Education Bill and NREGA have become reality, we can only hear talks about women’s reservation. The Land Acquisition Bill has been shelved in the Budget session, following opposition from the UPA ally Trinamool congress and Judges Bill also could not be taken up.
As expected, the Left parties have ridiculed the performance of the UPA Government as a big flop, particularly in the areas of price rise, foreign policy and enactment of new laws in Parliament. Even the Right to Education Bill passed in both the Houses of Parliament came in for criticism.
The BJP too is quite dismissive of the Government’s performance.
One cannot entirely blame the Government as things beyond its control have made it difficult to implement some of the ambitious projects. Several Cabinet Ministers, especially those of agriculture, human resource development, minority affairs and rural development, have prepared ambitious agendas but not even half them could be taken up for Government’s consideration.
A cursory look at the performance of some key Ministries reveal that the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee came up with a good Budget and also fulfilled the promise of a new direct tax code. The social sector got higher allocation. The Union ministry of rural development has already written to State Governments to send fresh proposals for allocation to be made in the NREGS and Backward Region Grant Fund for their States.
But the biggest setback for the Government plans on economy came from the failure of the monsoon, resulting in 171 districts declared as drought hit and the agriculture ministry battling with the drought. The kharif crops are lost and the only hope is the rabi crop for which the Government has hiked the minimum support price.
The second big jolt came from the price rise of essential commodities hitting the roof. With the festive season round the corner, the Government is set to draw flak if spiralling prices are not checked.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s joint statement with his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani in Sharm el-Sheikh de-hyphenating action on terror from India-Pakistan talks caused the Government major embarrassment in the country from not only the Opposition parties but also from his own party leaders. External Affairs Minister SM Krishna was also in for criticism for not taking up the issue of racist attacks on Indian students in Australia. The MEA and the PMO failed to do any damage control.
On internal security issue, besides setting up NSG commando hubs in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata, nothing concrete has been done. Though Home Minister P Chidambaram has declared the Maoists as “terrorists”, much more needs to be done on the ground to counter the menace created by the Maoists. The ministry is in talks with State Governments on how to handle the threat.
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