PM makes a clean break, ends Plan era, wants to build Team India

Image Courtesy: Times of India NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made a marked break from the past in his maiden Independence Day speech with many firsts — notably by scrapping the Nehruvian vestige, the Planning Commission, and by ending his 65-minute extempore speech with the slogan of "vande mataram". Unlike in the past when PMs announced government schemes from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi exhorted the countrymen to rise to their full potential, realize their responsibilities and shape their own destinies. To this direction, he pushed people towards cleanliness, sought protection of women by urging parents to ensure their boys are raised right, told MPs to create a model village with their MPLAD funds, nudged industry to move towards "zero defect" manufacturing, and asked bureaucrats to stop fighting among themselves and get on with their common task of governance. Instead of the traditional "mai-baap sarkar" that provided goods and services to a passive populace, Modi sought to involve the people in a national "can-do" reconstruction project. Some of the things that he said sounded repetitive — like sanitation and the India manufacturing brand - but that was possibly to emphasise their importance in his scheme of development. On India's fractious politics of caste and religion, the Prime Minister came up with another first — a 10-year moratorium on violence triggered by these divisive issues. "Let's resolve for once in our hearts, let's put a moratorium on all such activities for 10 years, we shall march ahead to a society which will be free from all such tensions," he said. It's an appeal that is likely to be heeded if Modi himself takes the lead by asking the saffron hot-heads to pipe down. Modi made a pitch for a sub-continental project to eradicate poverty, saying how that was once issue that dragged India and its neighbours down. While his emphasis on neighbours isn't new, what was new is that he avoided mentioning Pakistan in any adversarial context. Also, on the eve of the secretary-level bilateral talks, this could make the dialogue smoother. The one big government measure that the Prime Minister announced for the poor was a mega financial inclusion plan as well as an accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. The other big announcement was, of course, the dismantling of the Planning Commission, which would be replaced, said sources, by a new body called the National Development and Reforms Commission which would have active participation from states and whose brief would extend to collaborating with the private sector. The winding up of the Planning Commission was an important, but not the sole symbol of the change that Modi wants to bring in. As he said, "I am saying from the rampart of the Red Fort that it is a very old system and it will have to be rejuvenated, it will have to be changed a lot. Sometimes it costs more to repair the old house, but, it gives us no satisfaction." Modi's speech reflected his attention to details and his focus on shoring up governance. But Modi moved beyond his known concern about delivery mechanisms and invoked the need to develop a national character and a sense of national purpose. This was reflected in his call for improving public hygiene standards and building toilet for women and the girl child. He had already moved the issue high on the hierarchy of public concerns, but the speech saw the PM seeking to turn the government goal into a national mission by linking it to the issue of gender justice and dignity of the poor. The disbanding of the Planning Commission and the conspicuous omission of a reference to Nehru notwithstanding, Modi otherwise struck a non-partisan note by enumerating the contribution of leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Mahatma Gandhi and Aurobindo Ghosh. There were several reference to his own self by Modi. For instance, he spoke about himself as an "outsider" to Delhi. He said, "I am not a native of Delhi. I have no idea about the administration and working of this place. I have been quite isolated from the elite class of this place but during the last two months while being an outsider, I had an insider view and I was astonished," Modi said. "It seemed as if dozens of separate governments are running at the same time in one main government. It appeared that everyone has its own fiefdom. I could observe disunity and conflict among them. One department is taking on the other department and taking on to the extent that two departments of the same government are fighting against each other by approaching Supreme Court," said the PM. TOI