Ek Nayi Subah: Modi Government’s Celebrations

May 31, 2016

The NDA government completed two years at the helm and in order to commemorate the same it organized an event called Ek Nayi Subah (a new morning) at the India Gate on 27 May 2016. Narendra Modi addressed during the event that was hosted to showcase the achievements of the central government in the past couple of years. A panel of ministers led by M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Urban Development Minister, had monitored preparations for the celebration. The government is also expected to stage around 200 events till 10 June to showcase areas where it has been successful.

It was also attended by Bollywood stars such as Vidya Balan and Amitabh Bachchan. Kajol also attended the event and conveyed a message for the live audience. Moti Khan, a folk singer from Rajasthan, performed the song Hum Honge Kamayaab. The Prince Dance Group performed a rendition of Jai Ho, and Gulabo Sapera, a Padmashree awardee, performed a dance segment. Kailash Kher praised the present government saying how it was more transparent than its predecessors, under whom people had no idea as to what was going on.

Digital India

It was one of the programmes highlighted during the programme. Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the programme had brought common people into the fold of governance decisions. Mohandas Pai said that it is one of the biggest programmes of its kind in the world.

Skill India

Rajiv Pratap Rudy extolled the Skill India programme saying how people never discussed the issue of skill in India before Modi envisioned it. Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra CM, said that previously youngsters found it hard to procure employment but now the government was empowering them with skills and jobs. He also stressed that the central government was committed to develop skills among women.

Stand Up India and Start Up India

Jitendra Singh, a minister, said that with these programmes the youth in India are now able to start their own businesses and not worry any more about finding employment. Smriti Irani, the HRD Minister thanked the government’s efforts towards increasing the levels of skill education in India.

Affordable Air Travel

Mahesh Sharma, a minister, said that the PM has started a programme to make flights more affordable than before. Nitin Gadkari stated how the Modi government had been able to do away with policy paralysis and completed several projects that were waiting to be finished. He also stated that the present administration was looking to build 41 km of highway in a day. He affirmed that the focus would be on waterways since they are cheaper than traveling by road. The Union Minister also said that the government was quite serious about developing the northeast.

Innovations in Agriculture

Radha Mohan Singh, the agriculture minister, stated that the Indian government had come up with several programmes to help the farmers. Ram Vilas Paswan stated that the new government had prioritized the farmers especially in areas such as budgets, something which had never been done before.

Social Security Schemes

Jayant Sinha, a minister, stated that programmes like Jan Dhan, Mobile, and Aadhaar – along with the various social security schemes – were major safeguards for the depressed classes. Najma Heptulla said that these have made people financially secure and confident and brought about changes in their thought processes, which, according to her, was the bigger achievement.

Countrywide Electricity

This issue was discussed by Manoj Tiwari, an actor-cum-legislator, Jayant Sinha, Ram Vilas Paswan, and Najma Heptulla. Tiwari thanked Narendra Modi and Piyush Goyal for bringing electricity to his village. He narrated how people in states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh would leave their state just because of lack of electricity and how the situation had changed now.

Achievements in Sanitation

Chaudhary Birender Singh, a minister, dwelt on how the government had surpassed its own targets for building toilets with an aiming to rid the country of open defecation. During the event, Vidya Balan, who is the ambassador for a programme to build toilets, called for an end to the said phenomenon that is so common even in the urban centres of India.

Cleaning Ganga

Uma Bharti stated that the previous government had tried to spend the money for cleaning Ganga in a haphazard way. The NDA government, according to her, went for a stage-by-stage approach for completing the task.

Condition in States

Harvinder Kalyan, a lawmaker from Haryana, stated that the policies implemented by the NDA in the state were bearing some positive results. Yunus Khan, a minister from Rajasthan, stated how financial inclusion was taking place in the state.

Women Empowerment

Actors Raveena Tandon and Madhavan dwelt on the issue of women empowerment. Madhavan said that conditioning had a lot to do with the issue and stated that mothers could play an important role in the same. Tandon narrated how she had assisted an orphanage with caregivers and 30 children, whom their landlord had thrown to the streets. Other dignitaries such as Maneka Gandhi, JP Nadda – the Union Health Minister – and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, dwelt on programmes started by the government for the well-being of women and children.

Health Initiatives

Nadda stated that the government had immunized 1 crore 62 lakh children in 2015 only and introduced new vaccines such as rotavirus. Maneka Gandhi said that in February 2016 the government had saved 11 lakh children and 13 lakh kids in March. She also said that the government had introduced a website for lost and found children.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme

Amitabh Bachchan spoke on the issue of education of girl child and called for a change in the perception of women in India. There, he also interacted with girls from underprivileged backgrounds. Incidentally, his participation was subject to much political opposition – especially from the Congress – since his name had featured in the Panama Leaks papers. It was originally rumoured that he will host the show.

Financial Initiatives

Arun Jaitley dwelt on how the government had come down hard on black money and parallel economies in general. He also said that in 2015 around 22 crore bank accounts had been opened. He criticized the retrospective tax system of the UPA saying that it was against the general business demand for stability in tax regimes. Pointing out that India was performing better than the rest of the world – economically – the Union Finance Minister stated that it was hard to sustain this growth given the precarious condition of global economy.

Opposition Barbs

As may be expected, the celebrations of the BJP came under fire from their main political rival, Congress. Anil K. Shastri, a Congress leader, questioned how the party could celebrate when it had failed to fulfill any promise in the period. He also stated that the funniest promise BJP made was that it would bring back all the black money and then deposit INR 15 lakh in the bank accounts of every citizen in the country. Manish Tewari, the spokesman of Congress, said that they would challenge the present government for a debate at any place and time that they chose. They also criticized Amit Shah for saying that NDA was free of corruption allegations saying how a number of scams had taken place in the interim with the government doing nothing about it. He also said that the Indian economy was in a messy state.