Arvind Gupta
Who should be a leader and what should be the characteristics of a leader? Right from the Academicians to Philosophers to Intellectuals to Writers to Individuals to leaders themselves has defined a Leader in their own way & manner. But whatever may be the definition best suited for an individual to be a leader of all times is seen and found in Bhai Narendra Damodar Das Modi, popularly addressed as Modi. Modi is name which you can hate for the reasons best known to you but you can’t ignore him. For a common Indian he is not just their leader and Prime Minister, they look up to him as their Dharam Guru, who can sail our country once again as Vishw Guru. Since his emergence on the national level in 2014 as our Pradhan Mantri, the view point of common Indian has changed on looking the things happening worldwide. Everyone, even including some who for their political reservations can’t admit it in public, look at him to lead the whole world post COVID.
Modi is a man with a purpose, who has a unique sense of understanding the pulse of every Indian.
Whether he is in election campaign mood, or addressing the nation from the ramparts of Lal Qila or floor of Parliament, the words he speak become slogan which turns out to be the flagship program of the government to be completed as a mission. On October 7, 2021, Modi completed 20 continuous years as the head of democratically elected government, with twelve and a half years as Chief Minister of Gujarat and eight years & running as Prime Minister of India. As Prime Minister, Modi dedicated his first eight years in office, to country’s balanced development, social justice and social security, which saw launch and successful implementation of several schemes providing direct benefit to beneficiaries’ cross-sections of the society.
To commemorate the achievements of twenty years of Modi, the path of his dreams meeting delivery is very well pen-downed by the personalities who have excelled in different walks of life, in the recently realised book ‘Modi@20 Dreams Meet Delivery’ but in this write-up we will focus on some of Modi’s flagship schemes and how they have changed India, from the view point of common Indian.
Jan Dhan Yojana: The first flagship scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), was announced by Prime Minister Modi in his first Independence Day speech in 2014 from the ramparts of Lal Qila and finally launched on 28th of August 2014.
The primary objective of the scheme has been to ensure the coverage of unbanked society to provide the financial products and services at an affordable cost. Till July 27, 2022, the number of accounts opened under PMJDY stand at 46.11 crore, with a deposit of Rs. 171616.70 crore. The number of RuPay debit cards issued to beneficiaries stood at 31.90 crore. The benefits under PMJDY included scholarships, subsidies and pensions to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). During COVID, the PMJDY accounts made it convenient to disburse the relief among hundreds of beneficiaries. Swachh Bharat Mission: The other most ambitious and flagship scheme of Modi ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ was launched on 2nd October 2014, to eliminate open defecation from across India. Under the scheme more than 11.5 crore toilets have been built by the government. In the Union Budget 2022-23, the government allocated Rs 7192 crore for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), while Rs 141678 crore will be spent during 2021-26 for Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
Insurance & Pension Scheme: Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJNY) offering life insurance cover of Rs 2 Lakh and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) offering accidental death or total permanent disability cover of Rs 2 Lakh and permanent partial disability cover of Rs.1 Lakh, was launched in 2015. Settlement of claim is a little bit of time consuming activity but still as informed by the government on the floor of the Parliament that 512915 claims for Rs.10258 crore and 92266 claims for Rs 1797 crore were disbursed under PMJJBY and PMSBY, respectively as of October 27, 2021.
Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is another flagship program of Modi government to make low income group people self-dependent in their old age, by providing a guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs.1000, Rs.2000, Rs.3000, Rs.4000, Rs.5000 at the age of 60 years based on the pension amount chosen.
Mudra Yojana: On April 8th, 2015, the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) was launched to provide loans of up to Rs.10 Lakh to small entrepreneurs.
The loans are given by Banks, Non-banking finanve companies (NBFCs) and microfinance institutions.
On April 8th 2022, exactly after seven years of its successful launch, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told that more than 34.42 Crore beneficiaries have received Rs.18.60 Lakh Crore under the scheme. More than 68 per cent of the loans have been sanctioned to women and 22 per cent of the loans have been given to first time entrepreneurs. Pardhan Mantri Awas Yojana: ‘Housing for all by 2022’ under the aegis of Pardhan Mantri AwasYojana (PMAY) was launched in June 2015 by Prime Minister Modi. For the successful completion of this scheme, in the budget of 2022, Finance Minister announced allocation of Rs.48000 Crore for 80 Lakh houses. Meanwhile, the Economy Survey 2022 highlighted that 33.99 and 14.56 Lakh houses were completed in 2020-21 and 26.20 and 4.49 Lakh houses as on December 2021, under the PMAY-Gramin and PMAY-Urban programmes respectively.
Ujjwala Yojana: In 2016, another flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched to assure free LPG connections to millions of households to get an access to cooking gas cylinders without having to pay a deposit to fuel retailers.
Such is the success of the scheme that more than 80 million Indian women were made to lead healthy lives and to get rid of smoky Chullahas from their kitchens.
Ayushman Bharat: On September 23, 2018, in Ranchi Jharkahnd, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the biggest government sponsored healthcare scheme in the world under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) Ayushman Bharat. The aim is to provide a health cover of Rs.5 Lakh per family every year to more than 10.74 Crore poor and vulnerable families.
In March 2022, the government told Parliament that no beneficiary of the scheme has been denied treatment due to lack of funds.
Kisan Samman Nidhi: In the Union Budget of February 2019, the Modi led government announced Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme for the farmers. It assures financial benefit of Rs.6000 per year to the eligible farmer families, payable in three equal installments of Rs.2000 each.
The total amount provided under DBT has touched about Rs.1.80 Lakh crore.
The brand ‘Modi’ is the world outlook of a New India, because Modi is a leader with difference who has a solution for every problem, who reads the heartbeat and resolves with brains.