Effective governance must begin at home
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first hundred days in office achieved the first milestone of success by way of defining the three vital planks of India's foreign policy; robust bilateralism within the ambit of a benign world view, strengthening the strategic content of the Indo-US relationship, with near dehyphenation of Pakistan from this equation, and a thrust on economic growth through international cooperation.
Delivering
The government now faces the challenge of delivering on its promises on the domestic front in a situation that is none too easy. Administrative, economic and strategic fronts are in need of priority of attention.
Narendra Modi's cabinet needs to match his enthusiasm for carrying things forward at home. People's aspirations have a short run but voters are willing to give time to this government because of the credibility of Modi's leadership. They have turned out for his meetings in the poll-bound states of Maharashtra and Haryana.
Prime Minister has taken the first step of emphasising on probity in public life through his direct briefings to his ministers, as well as the officials, and this is making a corrective impact on an atmosphere that was thick with corruption earlier.
To break the politician-bureaucrat nexus it might be advisable to put a cooling period of two years before an official is offered a constitutional position after retirement. Speedy follow up on the scams should be ensured to create deterrence for the future.
Perhaps the biggest administrative "reform" that Narendra Modi introduced right in the beginning was the establishing of a new benchmark for inter-ministerial coordination for expediting major decisions both of policy and projects.
Educated Indians have seen its value. Also it was the PM's decision - bold and incisive - to disband a useless white elephant like the Planning Commission and think of a more productive and cost - effective body of experts to help policy formulation. A body formed for suggesting reorganisation and reorientation of the Railways has come not a day too soon. A similar initiative for reforming the Civil Aviation sector must be on the cards.
Economy
On the economic front a few things demand immediate attention. While launching the "Make in India" campaign Modi hit the nail on the head when he identified "trust" as the first thing that the potential investors - both foreign and Indian - would have to have in the capacity of the State to provide them with the necessary wherewithal like speedy clearances and the right "external environ" for establishing their industrial units.
Showing an astute understanding of the issues involved, he assured the gathering of top industrialists, entrepreneurs, and financiers that there would be "effective governance" to back them.
An extremely important element of "risk analysis" that a potential investor examines before establishing an industrial project is the state of law and orderand social peace in the area.
"Effective governance" is going to be tested on whether India is able to offer industrial security to the new enterprises. We live in an unsafe world. Many threats to India's security can translate into threats to our industrial establishments particularly those of strategic importance.
As India grows industrially there should be an increasing collaboration between the government and the industries - both in private and public sectors - on the larger dimensions of security.
Ministry of Home Affairs in India, now presides over a tremendous knowledge resource pertaining to all aspects of industrial security. This should help.
Upliftment
Even while in the US, Prime Minister Modi, made it a point to remind the world that for India development must translate into a visible uplifting of the poor in the short range.
Indians are "knowledge workers" not just pairs of hands and with a little skill upgrade and the right tools they can become centres of productivity whom the enterprises would welcome with open arms.
Narendra Modi's vision of making India a nation of the most employable manpower across the spectrum - from space engineers to paramedics - is the recipe for deliverance from unemployment and poverty.
In the interim, the new access to banks made available to ordinary citizens has sent the right signals about the government's sincerity of purpose.
As growth is intrinsically inflationary it might be worthwhile to create an outlet in each panchayat and ward for supplying a certain number of essential commodities at rates fixed by the government, to the needy. This can be done in consultation with the States and technology-enabled supply chain fixed for the purpose.
In the strategic domain, it has to be realised that in a country kept so divided internally by the politics of caste and community, a sentiment that the nation comes first deserves to be fostered as social policy.
The Clean India campaign if it would also mean drinking water, sanitation, unadulterated food, preventive health care and enhancement of tourism, would surely create this national orientation.
In recent years, hostile forces outside have been trying to exploit India's internal situation to pick up support for their plans of fomenting religion-based militancy. With a politically strong government in place it is now hoped that a vigilant security set up would be able to foil the threats to our internal security successfully.