Modi's First Year

The new channels analyzed to death the Modi government’s performance over the last year. Funnily, a couple of outcomes of the current government’s policies came to light only after that media phase had ended!

Love him or hate him, Modi knows to switch his interfaces based on context. As the political campaigner, he takes shots at the likes of Mamata Banerjee. But as Prime Minister of India, he can work with her as CM of West Bengal! Publically.

Like when he ratified the recent Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh at Dhaka with Mamata also present. The issue has been hanging since 1974! What’s in it for India? GVC Naidu wrote an excellent article explaining the benefits:

1)      The deal solves 4,000 km of land border problem.

2)     50,000 people thus move from a stateless situation to falling on one side.

3)     Indian cargo ships can now use Chittagong and Mongla ports in Bangladesh, which drastically reduces transit time and costs.

4)     Bus routes from West Bengal to parts of the North East will now run through Bangladesh, reducing certain routes by 560 km! A better connected North East could potentially reap economic benefits.

5)     India announced a $2 billion aid package for Bangladesh; in return, Bangladesh will establish an SEZ for Indian companies. This could increase trade and thereby generate common interests.

6)     Should that happen, it would be easier to pursue further India’s Look East policy since Bangladesh would have an economic stake in routes to South East Asia.

If Bangladesh got the velvet glove treatment, Myanmar got the iron fist. As the Economic Times put it:

“The surgical strike inside Myanmar was carried out by a crack team of about 70 commandos of the Indian Army who finished the operation within 40 minutes.”

The decision for “hot pursuit” was taken hours after Naga militants ambushed and killed 18 soldiers. Clearance from the PMO’s office came a couple of days later, right after Modi returned from the Bangladesh visit mentioned above. Talk about decisiveness and speed of decision making…

Lastly, the Make in India initiative could possibly see one success story if Foxconn goes through with its plan to manufacture iPhone’s and other Apple products in India:

“Foxconn has said it is aiming to develop 10-12 facilities in India, including factories and data centres, by 2020.”

The deal might well go through since Foxconn has to switch somewhere: its existing manufacturing sites in China are becoming too expensive!

Modi knows that the first year or two can be used to set systems in place and to do the spadework. And if things work out well and with some luck, the results will follow in the years after that. Which, by the way, would sync nicely with his re-election bid. The press, of course, can never understand long term thinking.