Modi working hard to fulfill people’s hopes

RIYADH: “We are not here for any positions but for a responsibility,” said Premier Narendra Modi after taking charge of the country following the BJP’s victory with huge margin in the 2014 general election. The prime minister has been working hard ever since to live up to expectations.

His government has come out with new plans and policies, including welfare schemes for low-income groups and corporate programs to generate revenues.
His Cabinet is working hard to fulfill public aspirations, bringing applause from different quarters.
“Make in India” is one of the key programs Modi launched on Sept. 25, 2014 in order to facilitate investment, boost research and development (R&D), ensure product originality and create skill-based jobs by establishing industries in the country.
The initiative was launched at the national and state level and in the Indian missions abroad.
The program has its origin in Modi’s Independence Day speech, where he gave a clarion call to Make in India and “Zero Defect, Zero Effect” policy, saying his government is committed to charting out a new path wherein business entities are extended the red carpet welcome in a spirit of active cooperation.
The prime minister pointed out that the “Invest in India” program will act as the first reference point for guiding foreign investors on all aspects of regulatory and policy issues and assist them in obtaining regulatory clearances.
According to the guidelines, a dedicated cell has been created to answer queries from business entities through a web portal (makeinindia.com).
While an exhaustive set of FAQs on this portal helps the investor get instant answers to their general queries, the back-end support team of the cell answers specific questions within 72 hours.
According to the plan, a pro-active approach is to be deployed to track visitors’ geographical location, interest and real time user behavior.
Furthermore, subsequent visits are customized for the visitor based on the information collected and the investor facilitation cell provides assistance to foreign investors from the time of their arrival in the country to the time of their departure.
The initiative is also aimed at targeting top companies across various sectors in identified countries.
Notably, the Make in India initiative also aims at identifying select domestic companies having leadership in innovation and new technology for turning them into global champions.
The focus is to promote green and advanced manufacturing and helping these companies to become an important part of the global value chain.
The government has identified 25 key sectors in which India has the potential of becoming a world leader and to facilitate that, it is committed to improving the physical infrastructure that includes development of dedicated freight corridors and investment in improving ports and airports.
These corridors would house Industrial agglomerations along with smart cities.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) was another big ticket program launched by the government on Oct. 2, 2014 to coincide with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The campaign is aimed at realizing Gandhi’s dream of a clean India by 2019 — the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.
The nation-wide campaign was launched with participation of all sections of society to bring promote mass awareness and lasting behavioral change to achieve the goals, which also include cleaning of major rivers in India.
About three million federal government employees in addition to state government employees working across the country took a pledge of cleanliness as part of the campaign.
The government also nominated notable personalities from the film industry, sports, media and business to promote the initiative.
The prime minister also launched the “Digital India” campaign on July 1, 2015 with Wi-Fi services in a number of tourist destinations during the event and investments worth billions of dollars announced at the inauguration of the “Digital India Week.”
This is a flagship program of the Modi government to transform India into a digitally-empowered society and knowledge economy and refers to government’s campaign to digitally deliver essential services to all the citizens across the country and includes raising digital awareness.
Moreover, the ongoing e-governance initiatives have been revamped to align with Digital India campaign.
According to the plan, the impact of Digital India by 2019 would range from broadband connectivity in all villages, Wi-Fi in schools and universities and public Wi-Fi hot-spots, besides generating huge number of direct and indirect jobs in IT, telecom and electronics sectors.
Early this year, the prime minister launched the ambitious “Startup India” campaign to boost digital entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.
The major announcement for the initiative include the income tax exemption to startups for the first three years.
Modi also promised faster patent registration and quicker exits for companies.
Moreover, norms will be relaxed for public procurement of startups.
There are several other economic reforms and policy implementation by the Modi government with primary focus on reviving the Indian economy through major reforms in manufacturing and export sector.