writes: Mr Modi ran a presidential-style campaign, promising achhe din, or better times, if elected. It is a promise which his supporters continue to cling to, and his detractors sneer at, saying it was a deceit to capture political power.
A poll by Mint newspaper found the prime minister has an approval rating of 74%, although down eight percentage points since last August. Another poll by the Times of India found 47% of the respondents saying that Mr Modi’s performance in government had been “somewhat good”, and an ambivalent quarter saying that it had been “neither good, nor bad”.
In truth, Mr Modi faces little competition: the Congress party, under Sonia and Rahul Gandhi has still not recovered from last year’s debacle, despite the latter’s spirited recent efforts to pick up the gauntlet. India’s Grand Old Party remains largely bereft of new ideas to fire the imagination of India’s restless young, who form the bulk of voters.
Inflation has been tamed, and the fiscal deficit contained. For both, Mr Modi should thank cheap commodity – mainly oil – prices. Electricity generation has surged to a record high.
His government so far has been free of scams, and he is making his ministers and bureaucrats work hard. Plans to auction mineral rights – starting with this year’s coal auction – should check corruption and foster transparency. He has energised India’s foreign policy, openly courting countries like Japan, Australia, Israel and the US. He is mining the diaspora. Taking the lead in evacuating stranded people in conflict-zones like Yemen and rushing relief to earthquake-ravaged Nepal has earned his government rightful praise. “Two foreign policy priorities have emerged: South Asia and the management of a larger periphery with a focus on China,” says Harsh V Pant of King’s College, London.
There are reports of industrialists, bureaucrats and politicians saying that corruption at the top has “declined dramatically”.
But all of this is still not translating into a resurgent economy: companies are not performing well, industrial output is flat, bank credit is languishing, the property market is gloomy.
The goods and services tax, India’s single biggest tax reform after Independence, appears to be embroiled in familiar political differences, and many believe that a watered down version is now being pushed through in what is seen as a shoddy compromise..
There is talk about reducing bloated government, but no radical reforms seem to be on the table. Some of Mr Modi’s ambitious projects so far look like retreads of older ones. Failure to fix the basics could easily hobble each programme.
Mr Modi wants to set up 100 smart cities, but most of India’s main cities have turned into urban dystopias. Nobody quite knows what Digital India means in a country where the elementary mobile telephone network is broken.
Mr Modi raised massive hopes of transforming India; the tyranny of high expectations can bite badly.
Some 13 million Indians are seeking jobs every year, and if Mr Modi cannot get them work, he won’t have their votes. This is no longer an India which is endlessly willing to wait patiently. Mr Modi must know that – and that he needs to do more.
