Since being elected to power in 2014, the NDA Government has raised the expectations of reinvigoration of good governance through a plethora of legal and policy reforms, both social and economic. The Government has since then come up with an array of new plans and policies put into execution. There have been many major reforms, which positively helped India in both maintaining Constitutional morality and reinforcing the rights of the citizens in different domains.

To start with, since 2014, the reforms centered around women empowerment. Strengthening of the women-centric legislations have taken a significant leap with several major reforms like The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2018. Through this amendment, firstly the quantum of punishment has been increased from a minimum of seven years to a minimum of ten years under Section 376(1), Indian Penal Code, 1860. Secondly, inter alia other provisions the punishment for rape on a woman less than 16 years of age has been added by the amendment.

Further, in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the case of Shayara Bano and others V. Union of India, declaring ‘triple talaq’ as unconstitutional, the Government legislated the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 declaring practice of ‘triple talaq’ as void and illegal to prevent divorce by practice of ‘triple talaq’ or ‘talaq-e-biddat’ by their husbands.

Now, a few major economic reforms were also made under the current Government like The Goods and Service Tax Act, which was passed in the parliament on March 29, 2017 and came into effect on July 1, 2017. This made the creation of a single national market, common tax base and common tax laws for the Centre and the States possible. Another very important feature of GST is input tax credit is made available at every stage of supply for the tax paid at the earlier stage of supply.

Also, the banking sector had been burdened with heavy debt when the current Government took over in 2014. The nonperforming assets (NPAs) of banks had risen due to a number of reasons from poor management to insufficient monitoring, etc. Therefore, the Government came up with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. This legislation was a huge success from its very inception. The code allows either the creditor or the borrower to approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate insolvency proceedings and obtain a time bound resolution expediting the process of insolvency and helps to take the NPAs head on and provide a proper framework and solution. Although it’s still early, the recent interest shown by reputed domestic and global businesses to acquire bankrupt companies with large bank NPAs, but good underlying assets show that the IBC, 2016 has been a hugely-successful legal reform beneficial to the economy.

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 was passed by both Houses and enacted subsequently on September 23, 2020. It is one of the four major Labour Codes that is part of the largest reform scheme of the Central Government in decades. It unifies three different laws, namely, The Industrial Disputes Act 1947, The Trade Unions Act, 1926 and The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. The aforementioned laws were passed for different purposes and objectives; however, their broad area of concern is similar. The introduction of curbs on the labour strikes during the pendency of litigation and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms will definitely make sure that the industries continue functioning without repeated stoppage of work. 

Another very promising reform was the formulation of the new National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020. This made way for the transformational reforms in the education sector. It replaced the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. The foundational pillars of the NEP-2020 are Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability. This policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform the country and make sure it flourishes into a society of vibrant knowledge and global knowledge superpower by 2030.

The National Institution for Transforming India, also known as NITI Aayog, was another such reform which was promulgated on January 1, 2015. It is the premier policy “Think Tank” of the Government providing directional and policy inputs. Apart from designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government, the NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and the States. Its function is of significant importance with reference to the planning of the policies and in positively influencing the dynamics of accentuating requisite legal reforms in the future.

Further, the scheme of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), which was expanded and implemented under the first term of the NDA regime, has shown promising results in pilot schemes being run in different parts of the country. These include PAHAL (modified DBTL for LPG subsidy), Public Distribution System (PDS) in Puducherry, Chandigarh and MGNREGA payments in Jharkhand, Bihar, etc.

The programme has already been universalised since February 2015. The DBT has been a ground breaking success and has prevented frauds from happening in the banking transfer. The beneficiary, therefore, receives the funds directly from the Government as per entitlement under respective schemes. This has had the most positive impact towards the farmers working in the rural areas providing them with financial security.

There is another significant scheme, the Ayushman Bharat health insurance, which has made it possible in ensuring that there is free access to health insurance coverage for low-income earners in the country. Roughly, the bottom 50% of the country qualifies for this scheme. This again bolsters the health sector of the country and makes sure that the fundamental right to life is protected by the government.

While the jury is still out on some policies and reforms made in this term of the Government, there is absolutely no doubt that there has been amelioration of important legal and public policy regime in various sectors which has helped in the holistic development of the country and protected the rights of the citizens and added stimulus to the process of achieving good governance.

(Jyotiranjan is an Additional Central Government Standing Counsel, Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law and Media Studies at School of Mass Communication, KIIT University. Parhi is Assistant Solicitor General of India for Orissa High Court. Views are personal)