Modi May Have Repackaged 23 UPA Schemes, But Most Are Working Better Now

The Narendra Modi government has addressed systemic issues that have traditionally plagued development schemes in India.

Mohitkumar Daga and Parag Mohanty have been engaged by the Bharatiya Janata Party to consult on election campaigns. However, the views expressed by them in this article are their personal views. 

As the Narendra Modi government enters the fourth year of its mandate, the opposition has accused it of usurping as many as 23 legacy schemes of the UPA and rebranding them as its own. However, there is more to government schemes than names. It is probably simplistic to say that some of these schemes have been copied when they have undergone changes in key features and have, in many cases, seen a holistic refashioning of the ecosystem in which they operate.

In a departure from the policymaking of earlier years, the Modi government has addressed systemic issues that have traditionally plagued development schemes in India. The shift to a sector-wide approach as opposed to creating schemes in silos, uniting similar schemes and a greater role for states in implementation has enhanced the efficacy of schemes. Bottlenecks in delivery have also been addressed with the increased use of technology in monitoring (Garv and Swacchh Bharat dashboards), fixing accountability (PRAGATI) and broadening public interaction (MyGov). Similarly, proactive communication, including the prime minister’s involvement through social media and his radio programme, has increased awareness about and participation in many welfare schemes.

In addition to improvements of the ecosystem, each of these 23 schemes have undergone major changes in at least one of their key elements – goal, design and delivery. Changes in some of these schemes have signalled a major shift in the policy priorities of the government.

The launch of the Jan Dhan Yojana signalled a shift to household-level financial inclusion from the earlier habitation-level financial access policy. Similarly, Sagarmala was conceptualised to drive economic infrastructure around ports as opposed to the erstwhile National Maritime Development Programme, which focused merely on ports development. To end the diversion of subsidised urea, the government mandated 100% production of neem-coated urea instead of imposing an arbitrary 35% cap on production as under UPA. Similarly, the Modi government introduced the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana to improve farmer incomes by leveraging the premium on organic farm products. With the launch of the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and a host of complementary schemes like Smart Cities, Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for holistic urban development, the Modi government is set to revive the stagnating urban sector which had floundered under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission of the UPA.

Many schemes have been expanded to cover a broader base of beneficiaries. The soil health card scheme was envisaged to provide soil health cards for all 11.8 crore landholdings to improve the inconsistent issue of cards under state programmes. Similarly, the Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh (PAHAL) scheme doubled the coverage of direct transfer of LPG subsidies from 9.22 crore consumers in 291 districts to 18.22 crore in all districts. Similarly, the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana expanded maternity benefits coverage to all districts compared to the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, which covered only 53 districts in the country.

Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) have been redesigned to improve their utility and adoption. In contrast to earlier crop insurance schemes, the PMFBY set the crop insurance premium to a fixed percentage of the amount insured and redefined the loss assessment area to the village level, leading to a renewed demand for crop insurance. Similarly, by introducing a fixed pension under the Atal Pension Yojana, the government managed to turn around the lukewarm response to it’s predecessor Swavalamban scheme, which had unpredictable returns. The government redesigned the Jan Aushadhi Yojana by creating a strategic action plan and addressing deficiencies which had prevented the scheme from taking off. Effective financial and behavioural incentives have also been integrated into Swacchh Bharat and the PMAY to correct the failures of previous schemes.

The government has also revamped delivery mechanisms under many schemes. The initiatives being undertaken for e-governance and digital interface with citizenry were divided across ministries, but have now been brought under one umbrella of Digital India, leading to mission-mode implementation. Similarly, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao combines many scattered interventions with dedicated funds allotted to a nodal ministry accountable for results. The Skill India mission too introduced a coherent framework and streamlined processes for over 70 different skilling schemes run by 21 ministries. The Mission Indradhanush scheme was initiated to intensify universal immunisation in priority districts with low health indicators, as opposed to earlier programmes which did not have specific focus. Continuous monitoring of delivery has also been introduced in schemes which were suffering from poor implementation. The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana has quickened the pace of electrification through real-time monitoring with the GARV dashboard and is a distinct improvement over its predecessor Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana.

UPA			NDA
Scheme	Period	Indicator	Scheme	Period	Indicator
Soil Health Cards by States	2011-2014	2.8 crore cards	Soil Health Card Scheme	2015-2017	9.2 crore cards as on August 4, 2017
Indira Awas Yojana	2011-2015 (Partial Data)	54,30,877 units	PMAY (G)	2016-2017	1 crore units (approved)
Rajiv Awas Yojana	2009-2014	1,60,931 units approved of which 19,920 completed	PMAY (U)	2016-2017	21,00,475 units (approved)
Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan	2012-2014	95,35,456 toilets	Swacchh Bharat Mission	2014-2017	4,55,81,550 toilets  as on August 3, 2017
Swavalamban Scheme	2010-2015	41.46 lakh  beneficiaries	Atal Pension Yojana	2015-2017	58 lakh beneficiaries
No-Frills Accounts as per RBI Notification	2005-2014	24.3 crore accounts	Jan Dhan Yojana	2014-2017	29.33 crore accounts as on August 4, 2017
Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana	2005-2014	1,08,642 villages electrified	Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana	2015-2017	14,175 villages electrified including habitations above population 100 as on August 4, 2017
National Skill Development Mission- through NSDC	2011-2014	13.5 lakh individuals trained	Skill India (PMKVY)	2015-2017	20.45 lakh individuals trained including 4.61 lakh recognition of prior learning
JNNURM	2005-2014	Central Layout of Rs.59,066 over 9 years with less than 51% completion rate	AMRUT	2015-2017	Central Layout: Rs. 50,000 crore over 5 years; Projects worth Rs. 30,657crores approved
Direct Benefit Transfer-LPG	2013-2015	9.22 crore LPG customers in 291 districts	Pahal	2015-2017	18.22 crore LPG customers in all districts
Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme	1996-2015	10.465 lakh hectare covered	Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana- AIBP subscheme	2015-2017	2.47 lakh hectare covered
Rashtirya Krishi Vikas Yojana	2007 onwards	Still active-umbrella scheme for agricultural sector, includes variable sub-schemes	Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana	2015-2017	New scheme to promote organic farming and to bring 5 lakh acre of area under organic farming by 2017-18. Separate outlay of Rs 350 crore in FY 2017-18
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme/ Modified NAIS	1999-2015	2.99 crore hectares covered in FY 2012-13	Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana	2016-2017	5.81 crore hectares covered in FY 2016-17
National Manufacturing Policy	2011-2014	Average Annual FDI: $31,487 million	Make in India	2015-2017	Average Annual FDI: $43,561 million
National Maritime Development Programme	2005-2012	Total Expenditure: Rs 1,00,339 crore	Sagarmala	2016-2035	Expenditure: Rs 8 lakh crore (projected)
Fortified Urea Policy	2012-2014	Average neem-coated urea production at 24.94% of total urea production	Neem-coated Urea Policy	2015-2017	Average neem-coated urea production at 100% of total urea production
Jan Aushadhi Scheme	2008-2014	199 stores opened out of which only 99 functional	Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana	2015-2017	1,957 stores opened
National e-Governance Plan	2006-2015	Budget/activities spread across multiple ministries	Digital India	2015-2017	Activities in mission mode under Department of Electronics and IT with budget of Rs 1672 crore in FY 2017-18
Universal Immunization Programme	1985-2014	Routine immunisation programme	Mission Indradhanush	2014-2017	Accelerated immunisation in 201 high-focus districts for all children below 2 years includes pneumococcal vaccine
National Optical Fibre Network	2011-2014	5,378 km of Optical Fibre laid	BharatNet	2015-2017	2,23,200 km of Optical Fibre laid as on August 13, 2017
National Rural Livelihood Mission	2012-2014	Primarily supported SHGs for self-employment activities	Deen Dayal Updhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana	2015-2017	Adds on to NRLM to expand placement-linked skill trainings (4.32 lakh candidates trained)
National Girl Child Day Programme	2013-2014	No separate budgetary allocation in budget in 2013 and 2014	Beti Bachao Beti Padhao	2014-2017	Separate budgetary allocation from 2015 (Rs.200 crore for FY 2017-18)
Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana	2010-2016	Applicable to 53 districts only	Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana	2017	Applicable to all districts

This approach of combining systemic changes and better features has resulted in more impactful schemes. These schemes, alleged to be copies of erstwhile programmes, are better in both form and substance. The performance data on these 23 schemes speaks for itself.

Mohitkumar Daga and Parag Mohanty have been engaged by the Bharatiya Janata Party to consult on election campaigns. However, the views expressed by them in this article are their personal views.