GN Bureau | May 27, 2015
Prime minister Narendra Modi completes his one year in office on Monday. Governance Now has reviewed some of his key promises and initiatives taken in one year and what needs to be done in near future.
PMJDY: Time to review
The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household. The beneficiaries get a RuPay debit card having an inbuilt accident cover of '1 lakh and after six months an overdraft facility of '5,000, provided the account is ‘active’ during the period. Those who opened their first bank accounts between August 15, 2014 and January 26, 2015 also got a life cover of '30,000. Read full story here
Swachh Bharat: An obstacle course
Ever since the PM announced the project, brand Swachh Bharat has been popularised by celebrities who joined the campaign and swept streets to create awareness. In India, where the burden of cleaning routinely falls on people from the lower strata, images of rich and powerful people weilding a broom sent a strong message – cleanliness is everyone’s duty. Read full story here
100 smart cities: A peep into the future
Soon after assuming power, PM Narendra Modi announced a plan to build 100 smart cities by 2022. Nearly a year after the announcement and shunting of a top-ranking official, the ministry of urban development is yet to take some concrete steps. Read full story here
Make in India: Or make for India
Make in India initiative aims at encouraging companies to manufacture in India. This is in line with Modi’s vision of turning India into a manufacturing hub, like China, and create jobs for a burgeoning young population. This initiative, where Modi brings in his much-praised Gujarat experience, is going to be crucial if he is eyeing a second term. Read full story here
Clean Ganga Mission: A river of smoke
Holy Ganga took a political turn when it became the PM’s pet project last year. While he had chosen to contest from Varanasi last year, the Ganga found its protector, benefactor in the PM who took a pledge to clean up the river and restore its pristine glory. However, the poll promise seems to be just that – a promise. Read full story here
Niti Aayog: What’s in the name?
On December 7, 2014, the PM, along with his team, hosted CMs for exchange of views on economic planning. The consultation agenda was “cooperative federalism” (interface between the centre and states); strategic and perspective planning; innovation and knowledge hub; and flow of funds. In other words, the agenda was the planning commission, and its future. Read full story here
It is the end of an era with Ratan Tata’s passing away. The former chairman of Tata Sons died of age-related illnesses at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai late Wednesday. He was 86. A titan among the captains of industry, Tata steered the mighty Tata Group from the days of old econo
The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI By Ray Kurzweil Bodley Head/ Penguin, 425 pages Ray
The vote counting on Tuesday after the assembly elections of Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana has been mostly on predictable lines, except for a twist: in J&K, as expected, the National Conference in alliance with the Congress is on the way to securing a creditable mandate, but in Haryana the BJP is pro
Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday presided over the signing of a Letter of Engagement (LoE) between NCERT and Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd. This is the first such tie-up, which will ensure access to original NCERT textbooks at the printed price on major e-commerce platforms.
In recent times, citizens have been receiving many fraudulent calls, often disguised as originating from Indian mobile numbers. These calls are in fact manipulated by cyber-criminals operating from abroad. These criminals exploit the Calling Line Identity (CLI) to mask the actual origin of the calls, which
Discovering India Anew: Out of Africa to Its Early History (Second Edition) By Alan Machado (Prabhu) Orient BlackSwan, 356 pages, Rs 750
