As a matter of fact IPC has never used the word ‘perjury’ as it is, but instead it has used, ‘false evidence’. The Indian Penal Code defines perjury in sections as:

S.191. Giving false evidence.—Whoever, being legally bound by an oath or by an express provision of law to state the truth, or being bound by law to make a declaration upon any subject, makes any statement which is false, and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true, is said to give false evidence.

S.193. Punishment for false evidence.—Whoever intentionally gives false evidence in any stage of a judicial proceeding, or fabri­cates false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine, and whoever intentionally gives or fabricates false evidence in any other case, shall be punished with imprisonment of either de­scription for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.

Another relevant section of the code is:

S.196. Using Evidence Known To Be False. – Whoever corruptly uses or attempts to use as true or genuine evidence any evidence which he knows to be false or fabricated, shall be punished in the same manner as if he gave or fabricated false evidence.

Many a times a witness is said to turn hostile when he changes his previous stand or whatever he said previously under an oath, and this is generally the trend in the high profile cases. In the infamous case of murder of Jessica Lall, perjury proceedings were ordered only against two witnesses, for taking u-turns during the trial which ‘prima facie’ indicates their desire to ‘help the accused’, while several others were discharged saying that no ‘prima facie’ case is made against them.

Justice D P Wadhwa in SC’s case of Swaran Singh versus State of Punjab (2000), remarked, “Perjury has also become a way of life in the law courts. A trial judge knows that the witness is telling a lie and is going back on his previous statement, yet he does not wish to punish him or even file a complaint against him. He is required to sign the complaint himself, which deters him from filing the complaint. Perhaps law needs amendment to clause (b) of Section 340 (3) of Cr.P.C. In this respect, as the high court can direct any officer to file a complaint, to get rid of the evil of perjury, the court should resort to the use of the provisions of law as contained in chapter XXVI of crc.” 

The procedure under S.340 is quite cumbersome. There is a summary procedure under Section 344 of Crpc, an alternative to Section 340, but it hasn’t been really utilised by the courts much.

Briefly stated:

PROSECUTION OF PERJURY:

1. Legal obligation to state the truth

2. The making of a false statement.

3. Belief in its falsity.

Criteria for establishing offense:

(a) The statement is false

(b) The parson making the statement knew or believed it to be false or did not believe it to be true.

(c) The statement was made intentionally.

All three criteria must be proved for conviction. Intention is most important.

False evidence is said to be given intentionally, if, the person making the statement is aware or has knowledge that it is false and has deliberately used such evidence in a judicial proceeding with the intention of deceiving the court.

ELEMENTS OF PERJURY:

 1) False statement made by a person Who is —
a) Bound by an oath
b) By an express provision of law
c) A declaration which a person is bound by law to make on any subject
d) Which statement or declaration is false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believe to be true.

2. Oath must be administered by a person of competent authority.
The authority must be competent to administer the oath. The proceedings where oath is administered must be sanctioned by law.

 3. Express provisions of law include—Plaints, Written Statements, and other pleadings.
A) CPC casts a legal duty to speak the truth
B) Verification of pleadings is a legal obligation.

 4. Affidavits are declaration made under oath.

 5. A statement could be verbal or otherwise.

A) Statement that he believes a thing which he does not believe.
B) Statement that he knows a thing which he does not know.
C) Statement that he knows to be false or does not believe to be true.
D) Statement need not be on a point material to the proceedings.

An oath or solemn affirmation is not a sine qua non in the offence of giving false evidence. The offence may be committed although the person giving evidence has neither been sworn nor affirmed.

In UK, Section 1 of Perjury Act, 1911 defines the term perjury. It states that any person who lawfully sworn as a witness or as an interpreter in a judicial proceeding wilfully makes a statement material in that proceeding, which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, shall be guilty of perjury. The punishment prescribed is penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine or to both.

Perjury is extremely difficult to prove. A prosecutor has to show not only that there was a material misstatement of fact, but also that it was done so willfully—that the person knew it was false when they said it. In Bronston v. United States, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a literally true but unresponsive answer could not form the basis of a perjury conviction even if the individual intended to mislead.

Following is difference between the English and the Indian laws:

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India has become a hub for the medical tourists as the cost of medical treatment in India is cheaper when compared to Western Europe, North America and some Southeast Asian countries. India has been getting a good revenue turnover from its medical tourism from past 4 to 6 years. Being one of the fastest growing medical destinations around the world, India is predicted to drive higher with time. Everybody can get tertiary medical treatment in India which is either not available or people cannot afford it in their home country. The NITI Aayog (The National Institute of Transforming India) identified the Medical Value Travel as a major source of foreign exchange earnings. According to a report by FICCI and IMS Health- India has nearly 18% of the global medical tourism market. Also, it has been estimated that India’s medical tourism industry could be worth $9 billion, and account for 20% of the global market share by 2020. The report even pointed out that India enjoyed high credibility in wellness, prevention, and alternative medicines. [2]

India was never so advanced when it comes to medical infrastructure and services. The limited number of healthcare professionals in the country were hardly able to look after the medical needs of the domestic patients, let alone patients from abroad. However, the situation has drastically changed in the last two decades. Huge advancements have been made in technology, infrastructure, and manpower in the Indian healthcare sector. The progress made in the last 10 years have made the country rank among the list of best medical tourism destinations in the world. Understanding the importance of medical tourism, the best hospitals in India and the central government have joined hands to extend their support to patients from across the world. They especially help people who look forward to seeking best medical facilities in India at the most affordable cost. Treatment even for the major surgeries in India cost comparatively 10 per cent lower than that in developed countries like US, and it is almost half as compared to that in Europe. India’s cost advantage will remarkably open doors to such developed countries over future. This is just one of the reasons that make India the best place for medical tourism in the world. [3]

Getting Visas for medical purpose is much easier than ever. Access to immediate service is what attracts the foreign medical tourists, surgeries are done almost immediately. Even though India is a developing country, it provides world-class and standardized medical services and care with the help of the latest technology. Post re-treatment recovery provided to the patients with therapies like Ayurveda, Naturopathy and Yoga contributes to making India an attractive destination for medical purposes. Also India provides an opportunity to the medical tourists to visit some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places by taking them on a medical tourist trip. Even though access to better healthcare is the primary motivation behind a patient’s visit to a foreign land, those traveling for non-critical treatment can visit a few popular locations from the list of must-see places in India. This is especially possible for patients traveling for dental treatment or cosmetic care. Another major factor that has made India succeed in inviting the medical tourists is the populace of good English speaking doctors, guides and medical staff which makes it easier for the foreign tourists to correlate well to Indian doctors. Moreover, India has a strong base of qualified and skilled doctors. [4]

A huge number of patients visit India every year to seek high-quality medical and surgical treatment services. Medical tourism in India is popular for a variety of procedures, especially the ones related to the cosmetic, orthopedic, cardiac, neurology, and organ transplant surgery. Millions of patients from abroad have so far availed the best medical facilities in India. They have been successfully treated by some of the highly experienced and trained medical professionals in the country and have safely returned back to their home country with a success story of their own. [5]

Traditional Indian health practices such as Ayurveda, yoga, Unani, Siddha and homeopathy are now also being promoted to increase the numbers of medical tourists. Ayurveda is an ancient Hindu system of medicine based on the notion of balance within the body. It uses herbal treatment and yogic breathing. Siddha and Unani are similar in their holistic approach to finding harmony between the mind and body, with the origins of Siddha lying in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, while Unani can trace its roots back to the time of ancient Greece. These all come under the Ministry of AYUSH, a government agency created in 2014 to improve access to and awareness of traditional methods. India’s AYUSH industry was estimated to be worth around $2.4 billion in 2014-15, according to a 2018 report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. This traditional knowledge of health care, along with India’s reputation in modern, Western approaches, is fuelling the country’s rise in medical tourism. [6]

A growing number of tourists are coming to India for medical treatments provided by skilled doctors here. This has made India the hub of medical tourism with taking nearly 18% of the global market. The prime reason being for this is cheaper rates from Western Europe, Southeast Asian countries etc.  Private institutions like Max Healthcare has treated up to 50,000 foreign patients in its hospitals. India is particularly known for heart surgeries, hip resurfacing and other advance surgeries. Highest number of patients come from Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Around 30 per cent of patients come from South Asia, 30-32 per cent from Africa, 10 per cent from CIS, Oceania and Europe and the rest from West Asia. Many patients look at the specialty of doctors rather than the cost. Most of the doctors and surgeons at Indian hospitals are trained or have worked at some of the medical institutions in the US, Europe, or other developed nations. As per data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), between April 2000 and December 2017 the hospital and diagnostic centres attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth US$ 4.09 billion. Over the years, India had emerged as a sought-after destination for medical tourism. The reason why India was such a preferred choice is that it offered world-class facilities and medical resources at nearly 1/10 the cost in USA and UK. There are around 6-8% patients coming from Europe every year. 19% patients come from Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan.

Conclusively it can be said that, a person earning in dollars, euros, and pounds would surely like to get a medical treatment in India wherein the currency, the rupee, comes as cheaper to them as compared to their home currency. Not only India is an affordable destination, but it’s luxurious as well in the sense to appreciate the kind of state of the art infrastructure maintained at the big hospitals and healthcare groups. Also, foreigners choose to travel abroad, and come to India for a private medical service, also so as to avoid the long waiting hours and the delay in getting treated in their home countries, either due to lack of professionals, or the dearth of affordable private hospitals of good standards.  What makes India as loved a destination for medical tourism as it is presently is it’s affordability, majorly English speaking doctors accompanied with translators whenever needed, and also the fact of non-availability of an equipment or an infrastructure that’s required for the cure in the home countries.

Sources:

[1] http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/health/4-things-to-know-about-indias-next-crown-jewel-medical-tourism/

[2]  https://www.tourmyindia.com/medical-tourism/blog/medical-tourists-flocking-india/

[3] https://www.tourmyindia.com/medical-tourism/blog/boost-growth-medical-tourism-india/

[4] https://www.tourmyindia.com/medical-tourism/blog/medical-tourists-flocking-india/

[5] https://www.tourmyindia.com/medical-tourism/blog/success-story-medical-tourism-india/

[6] https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/13/health/india-medical-tourism-industry-intl/index.html

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The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides. However, this law also restricts a legislator from voting in line with his conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate.[1] The schedule 10 to Indian constitution lays down provisions with regard to anti-defection. Any question with regard to defection is to be decided by the speaker or the chairman, as the case might be. The seventh para to this schedule is virtually inoperative by the virtue of the judgement in Kihoto Hollohon v. Zachilhu [(1992) 1 S.C.C. 309] wherein this para has been ruled to be violating the basic structure theory as it took away the Judiciary’s function of Judicial Review completely. Also, this schedule has been added to the constitution by virtue of the 52^nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1985.

But there are some exceptions and exemptions to be kept in mind as well, like, legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger. In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.[2] Also what is not defection is, a split in a political party if a complete political party merges with another political party, or if a new political party is created by the elected members of one party, or if he or she or alternative members of the party haven’t accepted the merger between the two parties and opted to perform as a separate group from the time of such a merger. [3]

Again, essentially, a legislator is deemed to have defected if he either voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or disobeys the directives of the party leadership on a vote. This implies that a legislator defying (abstaining or voting against) the party whip on any issue can lose his membership of the House.  The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies. [4]

As per the 1985 Act, a ‘defection’ by one-third of the elected members of a political party was considered a ‘merger’. Such defections were not actionable against. The Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms, the Law Commission in its report on “Reform of Electoral Laws” and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) all recommended the deletion of the Tenth Schedule provision regarding exemption from disqualification in case of a split. Finally the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, changed this. So now at least two-thirds of the members of a party have to be in favour of a “merger” for it to have validity in the eyes of the law. “The merger of the original political party or a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger,” states the Tenth Schedule.[5]

The Supreme Court, in the Ravi Naik vs. Union of India case, has interpreted the phrase ‘voluntarily gives up his membership.’ It says: “The words ‘voluntarily gives up his membership’ are not synonymous with ‘resignation’ and have a wider connotation. A person may voluntarily give up his membership of a political party even though he has not tendered his resignation from the membership of that party. In another judgment in the case of Rajendra Singh Rana vs. Swami Prasad Maurya and Others, the Supreme Court held that the act of giving a letter requesting the Governor to call upon the leader of the other side to form a Government itself would amount to an act of voluntarily giving up membership of the party on whose ticket the said members had got elected.[6]

Rule 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule mentions that the member of the House would be disqualified from the party if he voluntarily gives up his membership of the political party. But the Schedule does not clarify what “voluntarily giving up” means? Does it only cover the resignation of party member or does it have a wider meaning than that? In G. Vishwanathan v. Speaker, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly ((1996) SCC 353), a question arose whether joining another political party after being expelled from the original party would amount to voluntarily giving up the membership or not. It was held in this case that on being expelled from the party, the member, though considered ‘unattached’, still remains the member of the old party for the purpose of the Tenth Schedule. However, if the expelled member joins another political party after expulsion, he is considered to have voluntarily given up the membership of his old political party. In Shri Rajesh Verma v. Shri Mohammad Shahid Akhlaque, BSP (January 27, 2008), the court held that a speech by a member in a public meeting that he belongs to another political party by heart, would amount to voluntarily giving up the membership of the former party.[7]

A disadvantage of the curtailment on the legislators to speak up their mind or to differ from the views of the party, is that then the legislators don’t research or be mindful about the policy decisions being made by their party leaders because they know that they just have to follow the herd like a sheep. Discussions can be made livelier and better policies can be thus drafted if the legislators are allowed to think out of the box, put up their suggestions, indulge in and create a positive atmosphere for a healthy debate.

The issue regarding free speech of legislators being curtailed due to this law was addressed by the five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 1992 (Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachilhu and others). It held that the law does not violate any rights or freedoms, or the basic structure of parliamentary democracy. [8]

All in all the law on anti-defection is contained in the tenth schedule to our constitution, which might not be free from challenges or ambiguities. There are sure some lacunas that can be cured by making the provisions less vague and lesser open to interpretation. But there is always hope for the unseen future, and maybe some future amendments to the law could rectify the current situation.

Sources:

[1]   https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/anti-defection-law-explained

[2]   https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/anti-defection-law-explained

[3]   https://www.clearias.com/anti-defection-law-is-it-time-for-reconsideration/

[4]   https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/anti-defection-law-explained

[5]   http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/antidefection-law/339606/

[6]   https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/What-the-Anti-Defection-Law-says/article15777794.ece

[7]   https://www.latestlaws.com/articles/analysis-of-anti-defection-laws-in-india-by-sakshi-rewaria/

[8]   https://www.clearias.com/anti-defection-law-is-it-time-for-reconsideration/

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What is EODB?

Ease of doing business is an index published by the World Bank. It is an aggregate figure that includes different parameters which define the ease of doing business in a country. [1]

Better rankings are awarded to the countries where the constraints are minimum to enable the entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into viable businesses.[2] 

First published in 2003, the Ease of Doing Business Index is a World Bank project that looks at small- and medium-sized firms in countries across the world and tracks how easy or difficult it is for them to operate. The index factors in regulatory procedures, legal loopholes and the cost of doing business to arrive at a comparative ranking which provides a snapshot of a country’s business friendliness. The World Bank itself suggests against overemphasizing the rankings. “While Doing Business is a powerful tool for catalysing reforms in business regulation the indicators are not used by policy makers as the only source in structuring reform programs,” it says on the Doing Business website. [3]

How it is calculated

It is computed by aggregating the distance to frontier scores of different economies. The distance to frontier score uses the ‘regulatory best practices’ for doing business as the parameter and benchmark economies according to that parameter. For each of the indicators that form a part of the statistic ‘Ease of doing business,’ a distance to frontier score is computed and all the scores are aggregated. The aggregated score becomes the Ease of doing business index. Indicators for which distance to frontier is computed include construction permits, registration, getting credit, tax payment mechanism etc. Countries are ranked as per the index. [4]

The ease of doing business score captures the gap of each economy from the best regulatory performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s ease of doing business score is reflected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest and 100 represents the best performance. The ease of doing business ranking ranges from 1 to 190. [5]

Indicators or parameters include, Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction Permits, Getting Electricity, Registering Property, Getting Credit, Protecting Minority Investors, Paying Taxes, Trading across Borders, Enforcing Contracts, Resolving Insolvency.

The ease of doing business rank is a stock concept: It represents the reforms that a country has undertaken on various issues like infrastructure, legal systems, etc., over a couple of decades or even more. Hence, this rank ought to be more intricately associated with corresponding macroeconomic stock variables like the level of per capita GDP. [6] Over 13,800 experts participated in the 2019 study, from June 2, 2017 to May 1, 2018. Each country is assigned a rank out of 190 based on the total score it earns on 10 key aspects of doing business.

Where we stand

India has improved from 132 position in Doing Business Ranking in 2008 to 77 position in 2018.

Till rank 53, the level of ease of doing business is termed as “very easy”. From rank 54 onwards, till 97, its “easy”. While rank 98 to 147 is “medium”, rank 148 and till the very end of it all, the level is marked as “below average”.  India unequivocally falls into the category of “easy”, but achieving “very easy” is not going to be a smooth task, having its own range of challenges.

The World Bank now deems India an easier place to do business in than BRICs peers such as Brazil (109) and South Africa (82) and West Asian economies such as Qatar (83) and Saudi Arabia (92). But it has a long way to go before it can catch up with China (46, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is at 4), the U.S. (8) or Singapore (a lofty 2). New Zealand is the top dog here.

India’s climb in the 2019 rankings seems to have come mainly from sharply higher scores on two ‘doing business’ indicators — securing construction permits and trading across the borders. It also made smaller improvements in starting a business and getting credit. While India managed dramatic changes in some indicators, there were others where its scores barely budged. Its score remains dismal on registering property, where it ranks 166. While it takes 69 days to register a piece of property and costs about 8% of its value in India, the norm for OECD countries is just 20 days at half that cost. New Zealand gets this done in a single day. India also fares poorly, at rank 163, on enforcing contracts. While enforcing a claim through the courts in Mumbai takes 1,445 days and costs 31% of claim value, OECD nations manage this feat in 582 days at a cost of 21%. [7]

All in all, the ease of doing business rankings do serve as the most trusted ready-reckon-er for foreign investors looking to set up shop in a country. For that reason, any major improvement in rankings of the country are an achievement for India to celebrate.

Sources:

[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/ease-of-doing-business

[2] https://www.mbauniverse.com/group-discussion/topic/business-economy/ease-of-doing-business-ranking-of-india

[3] https://scroll.in/article/765709/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-ease-of-doing-business-index-and-why-it-may-not-matter-much

[4] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/ease-of-doing-business

[5] http://www.doingbusiness.org/en/data/exploreeconomies/india

[6] https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZFP18NIFAl8Up0s8FPQySL/Why-the-ease-of-doing-business-matters.html

[7]https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/behind-indias-leap-in-ease-of-doing-business/article25469900.ece

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Direct taxes include wealth tax, personal income tax, corporate income tax, gift tax, interest tax, prerequisite tax, securities transaction tax, capital gains tax

Income tax

This is levied upon one’s income (whether earned by way of salaries or investments or the properties you own), and this is a progressive taxation system in India, which implies, that as the income increases, the tax payable upon that also increases. There exists different tax slabs for different income groups. Income tax is governed by its act, the IT Act of 1961 that also entails clauses of exemptions or tax benefits, as its called, on certain items like, fixed deposits or life insurance premium.

Capital gains tax

This is basically payable on amounts of money that you receive from an investment, etc., those amounts being capital gains i.e. considerable sums of money.

Securities transaction tax

This is payable in stock market transactions, and is calculated by adding the share price and the tax amount. Every time a securities trader buys or sells any share, during the process, he has to pay a securities transaction tax.

Corporate tax

This is like personal tax for the companies. The tax rates differ for domestic and foreign corporates. Also there are four kinds of corporate tax, minimum alternate tax, fringe benefit tax, dividend distribution tax, banking cash transaction tax.

Indirect taxes

The GST regime has been a historical tax reform. This, if seems an exaggeration, then I would say, at the least, our Indirect taxation system has been made a lot less complex and sorted, since the dawn of the GST era, thanks to the Modi led NDA Govt. at the centre. Now, we don’t encounter a multitude of indirect taxes. Taxes like, Central Excise Law, Service Tax Law, State VATs, Entry Tax, Luxury Taxes, Octroi etc haves been superimposed by the GST.

This includes, service tax, excise duty, sales tax, custom duty, Value Added Tax (VAT) and GST

Excise duty

This duty is to be paid on any good as soon as it is produced by the manufacturer, the incidence of which he passes on to the customers, making this duty an indirect tax. This duty is applied to goods such as, petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas, aviation turbine fuel, tobacco and tobacco products.

GST (Goods and Services Tax)

Excise duty, service tax have been subsumed in CGST, while VAT, luxury tax, purchase tax, entry tax, in SGST, while CST in IGST (Interstate GST). On the other hand, custom duty, exports duty, stamp duty, electricity duty haven’t been subsumed in GST. The subsumption should result in a free flow of tax credit in intra and inter-State levels. GST has been introduced to remove the effect of Tax Cascading.

Custom duty

When we buy things imported from abroad, we are charged a customs duty. It doesn’t matter whether the good travels via air, sea, or land. Custom duty is what makes the imported items costlier for us!

Sources:

https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/list-of-taxes-that-every-indian-pays-from-gst-to-income-tax-1430531-2019-01-14

https://taxmantra.com/taxes-to-be-subsumed-in-gst/

https://www.policybazaar.com/tax/

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1. Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)

2. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. The Prime Minister launched his pet project for a clean India on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary October 2, 2014. The PM roped in prominent personalities from the film industry, sports, media, business and other celebrities to promote the initiative. [2] there is also a swacchta sarvekshan been conducted time to time to adjudge the cleanest cities positions rank-wise; Indore in Madhya Pradesh has topped the list the third time as well.

PM Modi’s flagship sanitation campaign in India that aims to build toilets and clean up streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns and rural areas. In urban areas, over 46 lakh individual toilets have been constructed out of nearly 94 lakh application received for toilet construction. Total community and public toilets stood at 3.1 lakh and the number of open defecation free (ODF) cities clocked at 2,212 as of May 24, 2018. In the rural areas, over 7.2 crore toilets have been constructed across all villages in India compared to 9.5 crore households that do not have toilets. More than 60 percent of the rural households in all sates are reported to have toilets except Odisha (55 percent) and Bihar (55.1 percent). Out of the 3.6 lakh villages which self-declared open defecation free (ODF), 2.5 lakh declarations have been verified. [3]

In October 2014, Bill Gates had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on building more toilets in the country. “Narendra Modi has India talking about toilets and that’s a great thing,” Gates said in a tweet which was retweeted by Modi. On his blog, Gates said, “This is not the kind of issue that most politicians like to talk about. But I would guess that in the short time he has been in office, Prime Minister Modi has done more to raise the awareness of the need for toilets than any other leader since the country gained independence“. [4]

3. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) implemented by National Skill Development Corporation. The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

4.Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao

“When you educate a man, you educate a man but when you educate a woman, you educate a generation”.  With an objective to generate awareness and to improve the welfare services provided to women, on January 25, 2015, Modi launched the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign. The focus was laid on 100 selected districts that are low in Child Sex Ratio (CSR) for safeguarding the survival and education of a girl child.  Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, on 22^nd January, 2015 in Panipat, Haryana as one of the flagship programmes of the Government, to address the declining Child Sex Ratio and related issues of empowerment of women on a life-cycle continuum. It is a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with a focus on awareness and advocacy campaign for changing mindsets, multi-sectoral action in select 161 districts (low on CSR), enabling girls’ education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act. The Scheme has been received well and has been successful in establishing the improvement in Child Sex Ratio as a National Agenda. It has resulted in increased awareness, sensitization and conscious building around the issue of declining CSR in the public domain. [7]

5.Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a financial inclusion programme that makes services like banking, remittance and insurance available to every Indian at affordable cost. Beneficiaries can open a zero-balance account. As of August 16, 2017, 295 million new bank accounts had been opened under the PMJDY. More than 176 million of these accounts are in rural India, and around 145 million are operated by women. [8]

PM Modi’s flagship financial inclusion scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, aims to ensure access to financial services such as banking, savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner. Launched in august 2014, the objective of this scheme was to connect more and more number of people to banking services. Under this scheme, 31.60 crore people across India opened a Jan-Dhan account as of May 9, 2018. By far, the PMJDY has emerged as one of the world’s largest financial inclusion programmes. Special benefits under PMJDY Scheme include accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh, no minimum balance requirement and a life cover of Rs 30,000 payable on death of the beneficiary. The PMJDY has emerged as one of the world’s largest financial inclusion programmes. [9]

6.Prime Minister Ujjwala Plan/ Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

Launched on May 1, 2016, its aim was to provide the LPG connection to BPL families at subsidized rates. Under the PM Ujjwala Yojana, the government aims to provide LPG connections to below poverty line (BPL) households in the country to replace unclean cooking fuels used in rural India with the clean and more efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). Earlier this year, the Centre had revised its target to provide LPG connections to eight crore from five crore. Nearly four crore (3,98,77,723) connections have been given under the scheme so far, about 80 lakh of them in the past five months. [10]

7. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)

The idea of electrifying every village in India was conveyed by PM Modi in his August 15 speech in 2015 where he promised electrification all un-electrified villages within 1,000 days. As per government records, by April 1, 2015, India had about 18,452 unelectrified villages. The task to electrify the remaining villages was completed in 988 days as on April 28, 2018 as electricity reached Manipur’s Leisang village after over 70 years of Independence under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY). The Prime Minister, however, launched a Rs 16,320-crore Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, or Saubhagya scheme to provide electricity connections to over 40 million families in rural and urban areas by December 2018. Out of the set target to provide electricity connection to 3,80,23,012 households, the government has so provided electricity connection to 61,89,812 houses as on May 25, 2018. [11]

Aimed at providing round the clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers, the DDUGJY involved feeder separation, strengthening of sub-transmission and the distribution network, metering at all levels, village electrification, and setting up micro-grid and off-grid distribution networks. [12]

8. Ayushman Bharat

The Ayushman Bharat Yojana is also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or National Health Protection Scheme or Modicare. Ayushman Bharat aims to provide healthcare facilities to over 10 crore families covering urban and rural poor. PMJAY-Ayushman Bharat is the biggest government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world. The scheme offers an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh, which will cover almost 50 crore citizens. [13]

Its no longer the case that there is an absence of healthcare facilities for the poor in the country. As Modi always states “Govt. schemes and policies are for the poor of the country.” The sole motto of this scheme is to covering both preventive and pro-motive health, to address healthcare holistically. [14]

Ayushman Bharat is Narendra Modi government’s flagship healthcare scheme that aims to provide medical coverage to over 10 crore poor families. The Narendra Modi government has received appreciation from the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on the first 100 days of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. Gates also congratulated the government for providing healthcare benefits to 6.85 lakh people in such a short span of time. In his tweet, Gates wrote, “Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA. It’s great to see how many people have been reached by the program so far. @PMOIndia” [15]

9. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

10. Khelo India

Aim was to promote sports in youth. Thus the proposal of Khelo India was something of a fresh breath in the stale air that had settled around Olympic sports in India. To the apparent eye, the success of the Khelo India School Games has been immense with a viewership of over 100 million and participation of over 3000 young athletes.

Until the inaugural KISG took place in January, there was almost no specific scouting of talented athletes in India but for the SAI National Sports Talent Contest. The appointment of a sports icon and India’s first ever Individual Silver medallist brought with it a promise of setting things rolling in the right direction.

The objective of the KISG was to help India’s youth develop into a contender in international sporting events by helping them with funds, coaching, top-notch infrastructure, raising awareness regarding the importance of physical fitness, encouraging the development of women’s sport and so on. The Games were spread over 16 disciplines which are Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Shooting, Swimming, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.

The sports budget received a considerably large hike in the 2018 budget, a total of Rs 1943 crore. The initial money that was alloted for Khelo India was Rs. 140 crores. But after the latest developments, the budget has been increased to Rs 350 crores. These have been some shortcomings of the Khelo India School Games that are a shade difficult to ignore. However, there is no denying that this was still a step forward, irrespective of big or small. [17]

Sources:

[1]https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/modi-government-979349-2017-05-26

[2]https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/modi-government-979349-2017-05-26

[3]https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/four-years-of-modi-government-heres-how-key-welfare-scheme-have-performed-2576277.html

[4]https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/bill-gates-ayushman-bharat-scheme-congratulates-narendra-modi-govt/story/310910.html

[5]https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/modi-government-979349-2017-05-26

[6] http://www.makeinindia.com/eight-key-developments-in-india

[7] http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=177109

[8] http://www.makeinindia.com/eight-key-developments-in-india

[9]https://www.livemint.com/Politics/3z36JaNMpmhX68Kjc0BgfP/How-does-the-Narendra-Modi-govt-score-on-welfare-schemes.html

[10]https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/four-years-of-modi-government-heres-how-key-welfare-scheme-have-performed-2576277.html

[11] ibid.

[12]https://www.livemint.com/Politics/1lxa2DmgHmGyeW8wX8BqjP/Narendra-Modi-highlights-success-of-rural-electrification.html

[13]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65920546.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.html

[14] https://www.pmjay.gov.in/

[15]https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/bill-gates-ayushman-bharat-scheme-congratulates-narendra-modi-govt/story/310910.html

[16] https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/how-successful-is-digital-india/

[17] https://thebridge.in/hit-or-miss-re-evaluating-the-success-of-khelo-india-school-games/

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