From Make in India to GST, PM Modi's 10 key decisions to spearhead India's social and economic development

Goods and Services Tax

Goods and Services Tax (GST) The Narendra Modi government played an important role in revolutionizing the indirect tax regime of the nation by rolling out the Goods and Service Tax (GST). The GST, touted as ‘One Nation One Tax,’ was introduced with an underlying objective to reduce the cascading effects of the prevalent indirect taxes and thereby reduce the tax burden on the ultimate consumers. After the GST bill got passed in both Houses of the Parliament, it was formally rolled out in the economy on July 1, 2017.

Make in India

Make in India Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his flagship initiative ‘Make in India’ on September 25, 2014, with a clear-cut objective to boost indigenous manufacturing in India and reduce dependency on overseas imports. The campaign encourages and motivates multi-national and national companies to manufacture their products in India. Devised to transform India into a manufacturing hub, the drive shall also help in generating employment opportunities in the core manufacturing sectors.

Demonetisation

Demonetisation On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. The economic drive was undertaken with an aim to flush out the black money from the financial system and make the economy clean and transparent. The government claimed that the action would curtail the undesirable parallel economy and crack down on the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activities, Naxalism, anti-national activities, and terrorism.

Digital India

Digital India Modi government launched the 'Digital India' campaign, a flagship programme with a vision to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. A major thrust is required to ensure e-Governance in the country to promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices, and job opportunities. Moreover, electronic manufacturing in the country needs to be strengthened.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan With an aim to kickstart a massive cleanliness drive to improve the general hygiene and sanitation levels across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign on October 2, 2014. The campaign envisages clean streets, roads, and infrastructure across the nation. The objectives of Swachh Bharat are to reduce or eliminate open defecation through the construction of individual, cluster, and community toilets.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP)

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao is a social campaign of the Government of India that aims to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls. The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme was launched on 22 January, 2015, by PM Modi. It aims to address the issue of the declining child sex ratio image (CSR) and is a national initiative jointly run by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Jan-Dhan Yojana

Jan-Dhan Yojana Prime Minister Narendra Modi kick-started the Jan-Dhan Yojana to make each and every citizen financially inclusive in the economy. The scheme provides easy access to banking services. Under the scheme, an Indian citizen can open the bank account with zero balance. According to the Finance Ministry, 28.23 crore accounts have been opened as on April 5, 2017.

Bullet Trains

Bullet Trains Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe finalized the deal for a high-speed bullet train that will run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The high-speed train that will cut travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by at least five hours is expected to cover 508 km at an operational speed of 320 kmph. The project is expected to cost Rs 1.08 lakh-crore.

Smart Cities

Smart Cities The Modi government started the Smart Cities mission under which 109 well-planned and sustainable cities will be developed across the country. The town planning of the cities shall be done with an aim to maximize employment opportunities to the local workforce and thereby curtail their migration to the metros, which are already jam-packed with an excess workforce. The mantra behind developing smart cities is to have sustained and balanced economic development across the nation.

Surgical Strikes

Surgical Strikes In a one of its kind move, the Indian Army gave a befitting reply to terrorist organizations operating from across the border by conducting surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on September 29, 2016. The Indian Special Forces commandos were airdropped at the Line of Control, from where they entered into the Pakistani occupied side. The commandos destroyed 7 terror launch pads and killed 38 terrorists including 2 Pakistani soldiers. The strikes were viewed as the perfect counter by our security forces to the brazen terror attack unleashed by terrorists on an Army Camp along the LoC at Uri in North Kashmir just a few days back.