Thursday 7 July 2016

Economy On Track

                                          Critics often scream about the illusionary stalled state of economy without facts, try to tarnish government's reputation about nonexistent (so far) scams that its futile to debate but here i am writing about the decisions and there implementation to augment economy and their repercussion. As P.M always reiterate his sacred mantra of "minimal government maximum governance" incumbent gov't is brilliantly acting as facilitator for stalled and new projects to provide thrust to economy.

 Energy :-  After anointed as PM candidate, Modi emphasized about the need to increase electricity generation and providing it to the remotest parts of country "untouched virgin" territories till now. There was a near-crisis situation in coal supply when NDA took charge. The government quickly passed an ordinance (later replaced by an Act) and auctioned coal blocks to alleviate the shortages while garnering Rs 3.44 lakh crore of revenues over the lifetime of the blocks thus turning around the beleaguered and maligned mining industry reeling under coal scam by infusing new lease of life. 
                                Coal production since then has acquired momentum with the output rising by 32 million tonnes in 2014-15 against the increase of 31 million tonnes in the previous four years taken together. Growth during 2015-16 is reported to be nine per cent. Underground coal gasification projects are on anvil too.
                                Solar power generation is another primary focus area of government with 32 solar parks of 20 Gw capacity approved in 20 states. The government initiative to emphasize more on renewable power to reduce carbon emission is applauded by investors and and states and addition of 1.5 Gw in 2015 -16 testifies it.
                                PM has announced his intention to electrify 12,000 villages by May 1, 2018 and electrification of 6,816 villages has been achieved in last two years and work to connect rest of villages is currently underway. 

 Railways :-  There's 66% increase in the average rate of expansion of tracks since the NDA government took center stage. Investment in railways has  doubled during 2015-16 then the average during the preceding five years with special focus on northeastern states who have been neglected for last 65 years. The stress on modernizing 400 major railway stations has started bearing fruit.
                            Government initiative of electrification of tracks and CNG trains are other commendable steps. The construction of dedicated eastern and western freight corridors of 1,305 km and 1,499 Kms, respectively, and laying down of 1,875 Kms of new railway lines augers well for railway modernization and reach.

  Roads :-  It is another sector where incumbent government achieved breakthrough by pushing towards execution of the stalled projects of previous government while actively initiating new projects. Acceleration of road construction can be gauged from the stats which are road construction has risen from 8.5 Km a day during the last two years of the previous government to 11.9 Kms in 2014-15 and 16.5 Kms in 2015-16. The construction of national highway projects awarded has risen from 3,500 Kms in 2013-14 to 8,000 Kms in 2014-15 and 10,000 Kms in 2015-16.
                                 Besides these, 3 year tax holiday for Startup ventures to promote entrepreneurship among disadvantaged communities and government's flagship program "Make In India" to focus on manufacturing are some other important and worthwhile initiatives that needs to be pondered upon before criticizing the efficacy of government.

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