Pass marks elude Modi on Kashmir, health, jobs, women’s quota

With the NDA Government organising a ‘Modi Fest’ to celebrate three years of the Narendra Modi government from tomorrow, a 110-page citizen’s report compiled by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, which claims to have over 4,000 civil society organisations and individuals on board—raises issues unlikely to find a mention in the celebratory events.

• The last three years are marked by the government enabling rather than curbing human rights violations
• This period saw the government ignoring rights of marginalised communities
• The NDA Government compromised the quality of higher education and anti-corruption bodies
• Although the BJP manifesto hailed women as nation builders and promised 33% reservation to them in Parliament and state legislatures, the government has done nothing yet.
• The tenure has been marked by growing unemployment

The report—an anthology of reviews authored by 60 odd experts from diverse backgrounds—analyses the government’s performance with reference to accountability, budget, climate justice, civil society space, education, environment, food and nutrition, functioning of Parliament, governance, health, housing and urban poverty, human rights, labour and employment, land rights, livelihood, peace, security and justice, water and sanitation and the constituency groups are LGBTQI, children, dalits, minorities, person with disability, senior citizens, tribals, women, and youth.

“In the third year of a five-year term in which the BJP-led government has little of substance to show on issues that affect India’s poor and middle classes,” the report says.

The report observes that the BJP manifesto for the 16th Lok Sabha elections had the slogan Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, which means collective effort for inclusive growth. “Three years down the line, the slogan has proved to be nothing more than words,” it says.

Claiming that the promise of millions of jobs still remains a cruel mirage, it says, “For millions of young voters, Prime Minister Modi’s most alluring election promise in 2014 was that his government would create ten million jobs, reversing the dismal UPA record of almost jobless growth.” He accuses the government and the PM of not keeping the promise.

The perpetual election campaign mode and the aggressive hate rhetoric of the government is giving a lot of stress to the religious minorities, notes the report.

Citing the examples of Kashmir, attack on African students, Bhopal encounter, widespread violence indulged in by vigilante groups, the report states that the year 2016 saw human rights come under sustained assault by both state and non-state actors.

“The status of anti-corruption institutions and legislation is a clear indication of how the Bharatiya Janata Party is reneging with impunity on its poll promise of a Bhrashtachar-mukt Bharat.”

“Starving public universities of funds and pushing the students towards the private universities seems to be the twin strategy for higher education in the NDA regime. The fund squeeze and increased centralisation has created unease in campuses. Recent UGC regulations have drastically reduced the number of seats for MPhil/PhD in JNU and other universities, which will adversely affect the poor and socially weaker section students,” the report notes.

“Policy paralysis on Kashmir is definitely among the big failures of the Central government,” suggests the report while regretting that NDA government’s Kashmir policy is formulated by either retired intelligence officers or RSS workers.

“More than half way through its five-year term, the NDA government has successfully built a public perception on its intention of taking policy measures to improve the health of the people. However, a critical review of translation of rhetoric into action points to the lack of political will to take substantial steps to implement them,” the report says.