It may have been a Sunday for most but it was business as usual for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A slew of meetings in the morning followed by thank you meet with the party workers in the evening, Modi didn’t seem to catch a break as the most eventful week of his life slowly winded down.
The economy is currently in a logjam with GDP growth rate sinking below 5% for the second consecutive year. Modi knows getting the economy back on track will be by far his most challenging task. Soon the government has to pass the Budget, which will give first real glimpse of BJP’s economic vision. But before that RBI’s monetary policy review is on Tuesday, first such exercise after swearing in of Modi sarkar.
RBI governor Raghuram Rajan today met Narendra Modi. It was deemed as a courtesy call but reports suggest many critical issues were discussed in the meeting. Inflation continues to be a major worry and RBI is likely to not cut rates. Within 7 days of the new government, diesel prices have increased once, albeit marginally. UPA massively lost popularity due to soaring inflation and NDA is likely to be mindful of it. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has criticized the hike warning the new government not to go down the path of its predecessors. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan though has defended the increase saying else it would have sent a negative signal to the foreign investors. He tried to put a brave face by saying diesel prices for bulk consumption has decreased.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Facebook post has also stressed upon the need for taming inflation and building tempo for economic growth. While UPA Ministers blamed mainly the external factors for slowdown perhaps expectedly Jaitley has targeted the then government for “jobless growth”. He has hinted at numerous short term measures to reverse the existing downward trend.
One important pre condition for economic growth is the implementation of big ticket projects. Often in the UPA regime they got stuck in the process of getting green clearances. But Modi sarkar is planning to chart a different route. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday said that their first priority is to give nod to stuck defence and public sector projects.
Reportedly Environment Ministry has already given nod to projects worth 80,000 crores. But environmentalists fear that in the process of boosting growth, nature’s balance may well be compromised.
Javadekar who also holds I&B portfolio today tweeted about the woeful condition of the journalists. He has indicated that the government is planning to allow 100% FDI in media which can completely change the face of the industry.
Modi although busy in government is not letting any chance of loosening his hold over the party. Today he went to the BJP headquarters for the first time after assuming charge. There he gave a pep talk to the workers saying they are the ones to be credited for this astounding win. He also defended his stance of inviting all the SAARC heads saying it has already made an impact in the international community.
The fact that India aspires to be a big boy in international diplomacy is not unknown. Now according to BJP leader Tarun Vijay the country aspires to play a meaningful role in Asia- Pacific region. Vijay said that India is looking to forge stable relationship with both Japan and China, who have had some tensions between each other in the last few years.
India’s relation with Sri Lanka though continues to remain under cloud courtesy protest by parties of Tamil Nadu. Now Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa has shot of an angry letter to Narendra Modi. She has asked the Prime Minister to take stern action against the island nation for harassing Indian fisherman. The latest trigger has been the arrest of 31 fishermen by Sri Lankan authority just a day ago. Modi who has always projected himself as a hawk in matters of foreign policy now has to do a balancing act placating the parties back home without puncturing good relation with the neighbouring country.
Modi though has another pressing issue in hand. He needs to quickly tackle his troublesome ally Shiv Sena who created ruckus in and around Pune late in Saturday and also in Sunday morning. They were protesting against some offensive post in social media against Chhatrapati Shivaji and Balasaheb Thackeray. While every political party has the right to protest it is hard to condone any act of violence, specially destroying public properties. The mandate is for good governance and Modi will need all the support from his party and allies to live up to the expectation of the people.
Badaun continued to be the center of media attraction with high profile politicians arriving to meet the family of two teenaged girls who were gangraped and then hanged from a tree. After Rahul Gandhi yesterday, today BSP Supremo Mayawati went to Badaun and severely criticized the state government. She accused that law and order has completely broken down and demanded the imposition of President’s rule in the state. She warned that if Center doesn’t act people will not forgive BJP along with SP.
Some questions have been raised about Narendra Modi’s silence about the brutal rape and murder in Badaun. While it is not imperative for the Prime Minister to comment on every issue one hopes that Modi sarkar comes up with a structured plan to counter the increasing trend of violence against women and children.
Finally on the stroke of midnight, Telangana becomes the 29th state of India. KCR of TRS will be the first Chief Minister of this newly formed state. New states have mostly prospered under strong leaders barring the odd exception of Jharkhand. We can only hope that Telangana goes from strength to strength in the future.
Finally, a look at the key economic parameters as of today…
| Indicators | Value | Rise/ Fall |
| Sensex | 24217.34 | -16.81 |
| Nifty | 7229.95 | -5.70 |
| Rupee/ Dollar | 59.10 | 0.07 |
| Gold | 26,863.00 | 33.00 |
| Silver | 39,586.00 | -433.00 |
| Brent Crude | $110.44 | +0.08 |
| WPI (April) | 5.20% | -0.5% |
| CPI (April) | 8.59% | +0.28% |
Read More:
One Year of Modi Sarkar
Top Programmes Launched by Modi
Pradhan Mantri Yojana
Narendra Modi
