Tracking first quarter of Modi Government: List of major initiatives and achievements

The critics and the Opposition might be blaming the Modi Government for not doing anything substantial to bring in "achche din" but, the BJP-led Central Government has given full marks to its way of functioning. In a report issued by the BJP in its National Council Meet on Saturday, the party said good days have arrived and the time has come to inform the people about the initatives taken by the Government for their welfare.

The booklet titled, "Turning a new leaf-initatives and achievements of the Government" was distributed among party MPs on Saturday.

"A lot needs to be achieved in the field of economy, education, health, social security, infrastructure, food production and distribution, external and internal security, etc. We envisage transformative rather than incremental changes so that India can be launched into big league," a para from the 36-page booklet was quoted as saying in a India Today report.

It also said, "A new sense of accountability has been instilled in the bureaucracy. Transparency in various departments has been ensured."

The booklet contains initiatives of various Ministries in details. Here is a look at major decision, initatives by the Modi Government in the first quarter:

SIT on black money issue:

The Modi Government constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to bring back black money stashed away abroad. A press release released by the Government said, "The SIT has been charged with the responsibility and duties of investigation, initiation of proceedings and prosecution in cases of Hasan Ali and other matters involving unaccounted money." Former Supreme Court judge Justice M B Shah, is heading the Special Investigation Team.

Allots Rs. 500 crore to raise 'desi' cows in 'gaushalas'

Narendra Modi-led Government allotted a massive sum of Rs 500 crore to raise strictly 'desi' cows. This scheme is aimed at protecting and conserving local breeds of cows. The project, called the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, envisages funding "integrated cattle welfare centers" called "gokul grams".

Namami Ganga Yojana

The Modi Government has announced an ambitious Rs. 2037-crore ‘Namami Ganga' project in its maiden budget to kick-start the process of cleaning up the holy river.

Rs 1,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana has been proposed to meet the need to provide assured irrigation to mitigate risk to the farmer. This scheme would facilitate access to irrigation. A sum of Rs.1,000 crores has been set aside for this scheme.

Rs 500 crore Price Stabilisation Fund
The Modi Government proposed to set up a Price Stabilization Fund with a corpus of ₹500 crore to help farmers deal with volatility. "Price volatility in agriculture produce creates uncertainties and hardship for farmers. To mitigate this I am providing a sum of ₹500 crore for establishing a Price Stabilization Fund," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Housing for All by 2022
Stating that the Government is committed to its endeavour to have housing for all by 2022, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 4000 crore for affordable housing in Union Budget 2014. The Modi Government has proposed to set up a Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing to be anchored in the National Housing Bank.

Rs 12,000-cr highway projects
The Modi Government has readied plans for Rs 12,000-13,000 crore projects, including the Rs 6,500-crore Delhi-Meerut expressway project to be undertaken with private investment.
These projects are to expand roads into two- and four-lane ones and spread those across Odisha, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Delhi-Meerut expressway project, where 27 km of 150 km is to have 16 lanes, is being bid out under the BOT (build-operate-transfer) model.

One Rank One Pension scheme

The BJP-led Government at the Centre has allotted Rs 1,000 crore for the implementation of one rank one pension scheme. According to the scheme, the armed forces personnel holding the same rank will get the same pension, regardless of the last drawn pay, years of service and the years served in a particular rank.

Scrapped all GoMs, eGoMs
In an attempt to counter red-tapism, the Modi Government scrapped all empowered groups of ministers (EGoMs) and groups of ministers (GoMs) formed to decide on key policy matters and resolve differences.

It empowered the Ministries to directly decide on policy. "Ministries and departments will process, at their level, issues pending before the EGoMs and GoMs and take decisions," said a Government release.