As India awaits its 75th Independence day, the right-leaning news portal- The Pulse India claimed on its Instagram handle that the led BJP government has delivered all that was promised. The promises made during the PM’s speeches were incredibly fulfilled.
Here is the link to the post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChMREEbDqrW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
However, the facts tell a different story. Our research shows that the government has not delivered as efficiently as claimed in 6 of the 7 indicators mentioned in the post:
1.Swachh Bharat Mission
The “Clean India”campaign was launched by PM Modi in 2014. Under this mission, the government promised to end open defecation by 2019. Government data claims that India did become open defecation free during the period. However, World Bank- which gave loan to the government for the mission, and independent research organisations say that the facts are different.
The non-profit Research Institute for Compassionate Economics (RICE), shows that over 40% of the rural population across four large states still defecate in the open.
2.Ayushman Bharat
Two claims were made under this health scheme:
- Claim: comprehensive health coverage up to Rs. 5 lakh would be provided per family annually to 50 crore people.Government provides health insurance cover of up to Rs. 5,00,000 per family per year.
- Verdict: Only 25% of the beneficiaries eligible under the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana have so far enrolled themselves under the scheme, according to a 2021 report by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Boston Consulting Group.
- Claim:1.5 lakh sub-centers and primary health centers are being transformed into health and wellness centers to provide comprehensive primary healthcare services.
- Verdict: Only 8120 Health & Wellness Centres are operating as of 2019-one year after the scheme’s launch. Current numbers are unverified; but it can be safely said that they are nowhere near to 1.5 lakh.
3. Startup India
Though initially this scheme gained pace; Inc42 in its annual year-end series ‘2018 in Review’, noted that the pace of policy formulation has been slow in the country. Lack of policy input in sectors like e-pharma and electric vehicles has been keeping many investors away and on the other, angel tax is a big issue for the startup ecosystem.
4. GST
Though the introduction of GST has simplified business processes, tax administration, and compliances in India, the collection of GST has been a roller-coaster ride. Five years down the GST lane, there are challenges yet to be addressed – the highest tax rate of 28% , a large number of tax slabs (as many as five), exclusion of products or sectors (petroproducts and power) resulting in cascading taxes, technical glitches of the tax portal, etc.
5.Jal Jeevan Mission
Less than half of rural households have access to piped water supply as of 2022, about three years after the mission’s launch. Access to piped water supply as of February this year is just 47.28 % of rural households.
6. Atmanirbhar Bharat
Despite a strong push by the government for Atmanirbhar Bharat in the pandemic, both ‘Make in India’ and “Atmanirbhar Bharat’ have failed to create a manufacturing cluster as most of the high-tech bases are located in in either China or Taiwan. Manufacturing in India is limited only to assembly-test-mark-pack facilities. Experts say it would take almost a decade for this mission to be successful.
References: Indian Express, The Economic Times, The Hindu BusinessLine, Factly, INC
Featured Image Source: HKS Misinformation Review
