Mar 18 2024, 07:55
Post-polls,expect economic transformation and overhaul of the citizen-state interface:
Modi's agenda Should Modi return for a third term, as is widely expected, what would be his likely agenda? In recent days, Gol has offered telling clues of its economic direction. The thrust is on manufacturing, but more than that on an economic transformation and an overhaul of the citizen-state interface.
As 2024 Lok Sabha election begins, three points merit attention for stakeholders in India's democracy, or for those looking for evidence of a possible post-verdict agenda.
Every successive Lok Sabha contest breaks numerical records. It's a logistical marvel and a challenge. Staggered dates and multiple rounds are unavoidable. With 969 million voters, it is only keener this year.
Yet, it is disappointing that the election is getting pushed further and further into summer. The April-May election cycle is a legacy of the early election Atal Bihari Vajpayee called in 2004. He had calculated on a quick spring election. EC had stretched it to early summer, with May 10 as the final voting day. In 2024, the final vote will be cast (or
punched) on June 1. In 20 years, we have pushed the election by three weeks. In this
period, temperatures have risen, and pre-monsoon rainfall has become increasingly erratic.
At this rate, the 2029 election will go even further into June. This is not sustainable. Well before 2029, EC should work towards a hard stop by early May.
The question is often reduced to a facile argument about 370 seats, PM Narendra Modi's aspirational target. Frankly, this requires a deeper assessment. Ever since the atrophy of Congress, there has been an absence of a truly all-India party.
This was discussed - with medium-term plans and targets, as well as an overall vision for 2047 - in the day-long meeting of the cabinet and council of ministers on March 3. Modi has offered further glimpses in public addresses since then. However, policy speaks more than words. Consider the Modi government's frenetic pace in its final days:
• Pushed ahead with clearances for three semiconductor projects, two of them involving partnerships of leading Indian and international (including Taiwanese) companies.
Signed a trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (Efta), with an unusual mandatory commitment for incoming FDI. The bet is at least some of this investment -likely from Norway and Switzerland - will enable India's tech and green manufacturing ambitions.
• Tried hard to conclude an FTA with Britain, with negotiations till the end of the past week.
Announced a new EV policy that opens the gates for an EV revolution and for international companies to make India a manufacturing and export hub.
In a nutshell, Modi gov has sent a signal that in a third term it is ready for a calibrated, diversified and resilient globalisation, one that meets and addresses India's determination to build national capacities - and one with room for fair and equitable competition between national champions and global giants. That is the hope and aspiration of Modi, of India and of 2024.
source: et
Mar 18 2024, 10:11
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