Editor-in-chief’s Note: The Unstoppable Three Years
“You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get there. You have to be humble as you execute but visionary and gigantic in terms of your aspiration. In the Internet industry, it’s not about grand innovation, it’s about a lot of little innovations: every day, every week, every month, making something a little bit better.” — Jason Calacanis
Prime Minister Narendra Modi epitomises the philosophy that the Internet entrepreneur expounds. He is taking consistent steps to ensure that the framework of policy and governance is geared to be a positive catalyst in inclusive growth. As the Modi government completes three years in office, it is useful to look at the positives it has brought into our body politic.
Corruption, unlike in the UPA era, is a thing of the past. The government has brought in macro-economic stability. The country is today widely hailed as the fastest growing large economy. The government has taken a series of measures to improve the ease of doing business. The GST, long overdue, will finally be rolled out from July 1 and is expected to give a 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent fillip to the GDP. Among the series of reforms initiated by the present government is the bankruptcy law.
As Modi completes three years in office, it is time for some stocktaking. Opinion polls are a useful way to gauge the mood of the public. We commissioned a survey to assess the mood of the nation and another to gauge what Corporate India was thinking. The results, captured in the following pages, are surprising. Or, are they? As many as 80 per cent of the respondents believe that Modi will come back to power in 2019. The majority also believes that Modi is India’s “best-ever PM”.
If Modi does indeed come back to power in 2019, what is his agenda going to be? Our Deputy Editor Suman K. Jha spoke to Union Cabinet Ministers Suresh Prabhu, Ram Vilas Paswan, Nirmala Sitharaman and Chief Economic Advisor, Arvind Subramanian. They are unanimous in their opinion that jobs are going to be the next area of thrust for the Prime Minister. Paswan is of the opinion that Modi is here to stay till 2024 – and not just 2019 – a prophesy we would like to track.
This special issue comes with special features like a BW Businessworld Panel Report that evaluates Modi’s three years in office. Businessworld reporters do sectoral reports to find out if the promises made in the BJP manifesto were indeed being fulfilled by the government. This special issue also includes immensely readable columns on the theme, ‘Three Years Of Modi’ by captains of industry, policymakers and leading political leaders.
Hollywood actor Bradley Whitford had once said, “Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. And whatever your beliefs, honour your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” I would like to say that in the coming seven years, we will see our Prime Minister putting these thoughts into action.
