100 days of Modi Sarkar – Day 34

Day 34 of Modi Sarkar

Modi Sarkar Work - Day 34

Bharatiya Janata Party ran its entire campaign in a corporate fashion. Now even in governance, it is looking to imbibe lessons from corporate world to improve performance of its MPs. The two day boot camp of first time BJP MPs is an indication to that direction.

PM’s master class:

Narendra Modi started the two day orientation programme in Surajkund, Haryana. He had word of advice for nearly 180 first time MPs of his party. He asked them to be in their best behaviour both inside and outside the house. Modi who is himself a newbie in Delhi said that he is undergoing training in the PMO and learning from seniors. He urged his party members to be careful while speaking to the media as controversy is merely a sound bite away. Modi warned against indulging in any sort of corruption or nepotism and said that Congress has to be again soundly defeated in the upcoming Assembly elections in different states.

All the MPs have been advised to chalk a roadmap for development of their constituency. They have to spend the funds allocated to them judiciously and use the zero hour of the parliament to raise questions pertaining to problems faced by common people. Modi asked them to be regular in Parliament. Tomorrow other senior leaders will address the orientation camp. Parliament has seen some extremely rowdy scenes in the last few years with repeated disturbances, legislators throwing paper spray at each other etc. If indeed BJP MPs behave properly and those belonging to other parties follow suit, it will be a welcome change.

Governance:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir on 4th July. This will be Modi’s first visit to the valley after swearing in as P.M. He is scheduled to take stock of security situation especially in the border region.

Modi will formally dedicate Katra Railway Station to the nation, located in the base camp of Vaishno Devi temple. He will also inaugurate a hydroelectric power project in Baramulla.

Narendra Modi is a stickler for cleanliness. After getting instructions from him the babus in the MEA literally got their hands dirty today, when they sorted and weeded out old files. It was termed as “Shramdan” ritual to clean up the department.

Special teams and trucks collected and removed those shredded files from different divisions of the MEA. PMO and MEA have now cleaned their houses. Other ministries are expected to do the same. Many though believe old files should have been preserved as archives in libraries as they would have provided interesting nuggets of history to future researchers.

Foreign policy:

Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari is currently visiting China to mark 60 years of historic Panchsheel agreement. He has been warmly received there by the top Chinese authorities. In a programme today Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that they will never prefer to become a threat to neighbouring countries. Myanmar President was also present there. Li said that China believes in peaceful development and said that flexing muscle is a sign of lack of morals.

While Chinese Premier was making all the right noises, the country continues to provoke India. A new official map has now been released which clearly shows Arunachal Pradesh as part of China. This is not a new development. China has always maintained Arunachal to be their part and issues stapled visa to people from that state. India however remains firm in its conviction that Arunachal is an integral part of this country.

Many experts thought with Modi as PM, China may tone down its rhetoric with respect to Arunachal. But clearly dragon is still looking to breathe fire down India’s throat. Arunachal government has asked for Narendra Modi’s intervention to lodge a strong protest. Modi has to strike a delicate balance between protecting India’s sovereignty and also promoting trade ties with China.

Back home from Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has stepped up her efforts to bring back Indians stranded in war ravaged Iraq. Sushma Swaraj has called a meeting of all top envoys stationed in different gulf countries. The meeting will take place tomorrow. India has sent naval warship INS Mysore to evacuate thousands living in Iraq, if the situation really goes out of control.

Economy:

Government has been so far remarkably silent over what to expect from Arun Jaitley’s maiden budget. Breaking some of the suspense, Financial Services Secretary G S Sindhu today said that government’s “single theme” is to get the country back to the days of high growth. GDP growth has slumped to less than 5 % in the last two financial years leading to massive unemployment. Sindhu however didn’t share any specifics regarding government’s plan to script a turn around. Arun Jaitley is likely to finish many projects started by Chidambaram to reduce fiscal deficits.

In the meanwhile, centre has formed a high level committee to probe into the GAIL pipeline fire tragedy in Andhra Pradesh. 16 people lost their life in the accident. There have been some reports that authorities showed callousness to tackle the gas leak. Government has promised to take strict action if negligence is proven.

DU crisis:

After bowing down to the wishes of UGC, Delhi University may be over compensating in their act. Now it has decided to scrap 4 year B Tech and Bachelor in Management Science courses. Fate of students admitted to these courses last year is still unclear. DU wants to give BSC degree to those admitted to the B Tech course.

It will be certainly a raw deal for those students if they end up getting a different degree from what they enrolled for. Legal complications may soon arise. Students are in no mood to accept this proposal. This incident is a lesson that next time DU or any other university wishes to experiment they should ensure that they are in same page with UGC so that students don’t suffer. DU will publish its first cut off list on 1st July.

Naidu’s praise:

Urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu has paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Roa on his 93rd birth anniversary. Naidu hailed Rao as a legend and described him as an erudite scholar who changed the face of India by ushering in economic reforms. Rao is widely respected by BJP for not being a part of the Nehru-Gandhi family and yet making a name for himself in Congress.

Gandhi family scion Rahul today came for some criticism from Digvijay Singh. Former MP Chief Minister said that Rahul lacks the temperament to rule. There is a belief among section of the party that Rahul should have been more pro-active to counter Modi. Even now he has refused to lead the party in Lok Sabha. Digvijay merely gave vent to that school of thought. Later he clarified that he meant Rahul is more inclined to fight for justice than grabbing power for himself.

Finally, a look at the key economic parameters as of today…

Indicators Value Rise/ Fall
Sensex 25099.92 37.25
Nifty 7508.80 15.60
Rupee/ Dollar 60.09 -0.05
Gold 27,672.00 5.00
Silver 44,529.00 -127.00
Brent Crude 6364.00 -21.00
WPI (May) 6.01% 0.81%
CPI (May) 8.28% -0.31%

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