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6 I-Day promises from 2014 that Modi (partially) fulfilled

6 I-Day promises from 2014 that Modi (partially) fulfilled

New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his second Independence Day speech, IndiaSpend and FactChecker reviewed the implementation of key pronouncements he made in his first Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014:

1. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana - More than 174 million bank accounts opened; 46 percent have no money

What Modi said: "I wish to connect the poorest citizens of the country with the facility of bank accounts through this yojana. There are millions of families who have mobile phones but no bank accounts. We have to change this scenario."

What happened: Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), or the Prime Minister’s People’s Wealth Programme, has indeed opened a window to financial inclusion: allowing the poor access to formal financial services-bank accounts, credit services, debit cards, insurance and pensions. As on August 5, 2015, 174.5 million new bank accounts have been opened; 46 percent of these had no money - zero-balance accounts. As IndiaSpend previously reported, the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government opened more than 50 million “no-frills” accounts for the poor over five years, but most were never used. PMJDY has got off to a speedier, more promising start.

2. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (MP’s Ideal Village Programme) - Most MPs have adopted villages; success or failure will be apparent by 2016

What Modi said: “Each of our MPs should make one village of his or her constituency a Model Village by 2016. After 2016, select two more villages for this purpose, before we go for the general elections in 2019.”

What happened: So far, only 45 Lok Sabha MPs (of 543) and five Rajya Sabha MPs (of 247) have ignored the scheme and not adopted villages. As Mint reported, there is no change in the Uttar Pradesh village that Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi adopted.

Success or failure will be apparent by 2016, Modi’s deadline to create the model villages he spoke about in 2014.

3. Separate toilets in all government schools - Majority built, according to government, especially for girls, but only a fraction have water

What Modi said: “All schools in the country should have toilets with separate toilets for girls. This target should be finished within one year with the help of state governments and on the next 15th August, we should be in a firm position to announce that there is no school in India without separate toilets for boys and girls.”

What happened: Eighty-five percent of government schools had toilets for boys and 91 percent had toilets for girls, according to the human resource development ministry. There is no independent verification of this claim. However, water for these toilets is another matter: only 27 percent of toilets for boys and 31 percent for girls had water, according to the mission document of the Swachh Vidhyalya (Clean Schools) scheme.

4. Ten-year moratorium on communal clashes - Riots continue at largely the same rate as during the tenure of the previous UPA government

What Modi said: “I appeal to all those people that whether it is the poison of casteism, communalism, regionalism, discrimination on social and economic basis, all these are obstacles in our way forward. Let`s resolve for once in our hearts, let`s put a moratorium on all such activities for ten years, we shall march ahead to a society which will be free from all such tensions. Let`s experiment it for once.”

What happened: The average number of riots per month has largely stayed the same over six years, rising marginally this year. The worst year was 2013, and the year with the fewest riots was 2011.

5. Launch of Make in India and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - Successfully launched and promoted; 29 percent rise in FDI

What Modi said: “I want to appeal to all the people world over, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, “Come, make in India”, “Come, manufacture in India”. Sell in any country of the world but manufacture here." 

What happened: The Make in India initiative was launched in September 2014. There has been a 48 percent increase in FDI during October 2014 to April 2015 over the equivalent period of the previous year, according to an answer given to the Lok Sabha by the ministry of commerce.

There was a 37 percent growth in FDI during January to May 2015 over the same period in 2014, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Overall, FDI grew 29 percent in the financial year 2014-15 over the previous year. Investments by foreign institutional investors, or the money coming through financial markets, were $40.92 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015, about seven times as much as in 2013-14, The Wall Street Journal reported.

6. Jobs for young people under 35 - New ministry launches skilling programmes for 2.4 million youth, but 12 million jobs needed every year

What Modi said: “Sixty-five percent population of the country happens to be under the age of 35 years. We have young people, they are unemployed but the kind of young people we seek for are not available. If we have to promote the development of our country then our mission has to be `skill development` and `skilled India.”

What happened: The flagship, outcome-based Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), the Prime Minister’s Skill Development Scheme, was launched on July 15, 2015. Under this scheme, the government has set a target to provide skill training to 400.2 million people by 2022. Top of Form

IndiaSpend previously reported how the mission does not provide for 263 million agricultural labourers who require re-skilling.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. FactChecker is a part of IndiaSpend. Saumya Tewari can be contacted at [email protected])

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