8 Challenges Before Modi

1. Make In India: Zero Defect, Zero Effect?

Narendra Bhai Modi announced this initiative from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort during his maiden Independence Day address. He wore a colorful turban and asked the community of nations to “Come! Make in India!”

We saw a hungry Asiatic Lion from Gir (the logo of ‘Make in India’ campaign) asking the world to invest in India.

Now the PM wants to make India an internationally identifiable ‘Brand India’ with Zero defects in manufacturing and zero effect on the mother earth. He says it’s time India gives up the old ABCD (Avoid Bypass, Confuse and Delay) sarkari (official) attitude and takes a new ROAD (Responsibility, Ownership, Accountability and Discipline).

In Silicon Valley, youngsters (whom Steve Jobs advised to ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’) are innovating and coming up with such breathtaking ideas –shouldn’t we promote innovation?

Every year we send some of our best brains to Universities abroad only to add icing to America’s already very creamy cake. Make In India is fine, But, Premier dear, this project of yours can work wonders if you can urge these desi brains to come back and ‘innovate, here at home in India”.

2. Bring Back Black Money?

Narendra Bhai (this was when he was still an umidwar — a candidate), he promised that Rs 1.5 million will be deposited in every Indian’s bank account once he gets the illegal money stashed in foreign banks back to the des. He said all he needed were 100 days to accomplish the task.

Kallu from Kundarki had plans of getting a new pair of bullock cart and Lalli Devi had hopes of fixing her mud roof which has been duly leaking every monsoon.

The nation is still counting days… When? Arnab Goswami, won’t you want to know?

3. Financial Inclusion, faster (and sustainable) growth: Beyond Jan Dhan

The promise of double digit growth, creating millions of new jobs, Singapore style ‘smart cities’, world class infrastructure –the long awaited Acche Din! At Premier Modi’s behest bank accounts were opened. But, is this true inclusion?

Isn’t it a well-established fact that financial institutions consider it a ‘hazardous task’ to give credit to one of the poorest and backward communities in the country (Sachar Committee Report 2006:22)?

What about jobs? Can’t they be made inclusive?

Muslims have the highest ratio of unemployed graduates among all Socio Religious Communities (SCR 2006:73).

You promised faster growth, doing away with all the ‘bottlenecks’ and sluggishness in the economy. Now that oil prices are the lowest in several years and we have a windfall gain, the PM will have to bring about positive change, he will have to make the financial sphere more inclusive for faster and sustainable growth if at all India intends to realize its true potential.

4. Digital India

The PM aspires to connect the remotest corners of India — from Nicobar to Kashmir.

When I was a kid, we hardly had electricity in our place. Throughout my childhood I and almost all kids around me lived in this huge ‘black hole’- information deficit. All we had were some set books which served as our gateway to know the world and connect to those out there. While our peers around the world were on the computer from grade one, we were still struggling with buying pencils and pens.

If Modi can make Digital India a reality, ensure Direct Benefit Transfers take place and give India’s kids access to their share under the sun- it would be a huge, long awaited moment in the destiny of this country. It’s time that we moved on and embrace technology wholeheartedly. Relying on the glories of some mythical past when we had “fighter airplanes, nuclear bombs and plastic surgery” won’t solve bread and butter issues of this nation when according to the UNICEF 90% of its adolescent girls are anemic.

5. Swachh Bharat

We have seen the PM cleaning the Assi Ghat, celebrities doing rounds with brand new brooms all over the country. We are told that our rivers are living beings and they ought to be revered. The drainage system of the most populous state of the country –Uttar Pradesh is almost on the brink of collapse.

The posters of the Clean India Mission, the buzz on social media, the appointment of celebrity ‘cleaners’ are of little use to the people in Western Uttar Pradesh specially in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Baghpat as hundreds of them have succumbed to diseases like cancer, thanks to the consumption of contaminated ground water fortified with effluents from local paper, sugar and miscellaneous other units. The waters of rivers of Western UP like Krishna, Kali and Hindon have become “unfit” for even bathing. We have graduated to becoming broom wielders, but what about the safai karamcharis (cleaners) of the country?

A recent survey pointed out that numerous Indians still practice so called ‘untouchability’. Can the ‘inverted spectacles’ ensure that we look into our subconscious selves, do some serious introspection and ask ourselves if we claim to be vishwa guru (world leader) why are our homes clean BUT the streets so dirty?

6. The Neighbors

Love thy neighbor as yourself. Alas, if only thou could choose them.

India’s departed twin Pakistan is tethering on the brink of becoming a failed state. The recent macabre attack on an army public school in Peshawar confirms what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them to bite only your neighbors.”

Clearly, the idea of Pakistan has failed. The ‘one language, one religion, one nation’ utopia has been shattered not once, but twice. Bangladesh in 1972 and now these monstrous terrorists, the self-proclaimed ‘defenders of the faith’ have continued to bleed Pakistan. These are the same ‘strategic assets’ which have continuously destabilized Afghanistan.

A democratic Pakistan at peace with itself is in India’s utmost interest. But for that, Pakistan will have to stop nestling anti India elements. Once and for all.

Modi must capitalize on the immense goodwill that India enjoys among the Afghan people. A viable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan can be an effective bulwark against a hostile Pakistan.

Even younger sisters like Sri Lanka and Maldives and Nepal continue to play the ‘China card.’

Modi will have to weigh his options and take a calibrated approach to catapult India on the global high table.

7. Beyond Madison Square – Paris 2015

All those chants which gave PM Modi a rock star welcome indicated the diaspora’s desire to see India acting according to its weight. Narendra Bhai went all the way from the Big Apple to and Fiji, from Australia to Japan….(the list goes on), he kept saying “Growth and Change”. Now the moot question is will he?

The world’s largest democracy has long talked about the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility on the world stage. True, we have some of the most starling inequalities, states whose Human Development Indices are comparable to those of sub- Saharan African nations — yet it’s high time that India takes a proactive role and strikes a deal which does justice to India’s poorest, takes care of their rights to the ‘development pie’ while significantly cutting our overall carbon footprint. Aren’t the poor and the most vulnerable the worst affected by climate change?

8. The Idea of India

India is just too diverse a country to be monochromatic. We are plural, we are different from each other and still we are one. Like all those wonderful bootis that make a Banarsi Sari so exquisite. The design is intricate, silk so vulnerable — the karigars (artisans) meticulously put it on the loom and give it its world famous texture.

If the PM can reach out to India’s poorest, and vulnerable socio-religious community, the last woman in the row (even if she wears a burqa), Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s idea of India as a plural, just state will survive.

The PM will have to rein in these ‘bust’ lovers. The very idea of having Bapu as ours is too precious to be sacrificed at the hands of some fringe elements. The world celebrates Gandhi. They all love him out there. Won’t you stand up for him?

With its breathtaking variety of people, their customs, languages, faiths and distinct modes of lifestyles, imagining a homogeneous India will be a huge disservice — both to Indians as well as their nation. This is after all, the land of Buddha and Mahavir, Nanak and Kabir. The nation has given a clear mandate to the Prime Minister. Now is the time to rise up to the situation and fulfill your promises.

The chronicles of history are being written. And Narendra Modi has a choice.

A graduate of Department of Contemporary South Asian Studies, Oxford University, Ilma Afroz also attended the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and interned with the United Nations and the Clinton Foundation. Ilma is the founder of Hope, dedicated to helping girls from marginalized communities. She tweets @Afroz_Ilma

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now

MONTHLY	Rs 100
YEARLY	Rs 1000
LIFETIME	Rs 10000

CLICK FOR DETAILS