PM Modi’s U-Turns: From 1998 to July 2004, India had an NDA government and Yashwant Sinha was the Finance Minister at that time. During his tenure as Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha was given the nickname “Mr. Roll Back”. This nickname was given especially due to the policies implemented during his tenure and the constant changes in them.
In simple words, the then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha implemented many economic reforms and policies during his tenure, which were later withdrawn or changed.
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Now, like Yashwant Sinha, the U-turn policy of the Modi government is also in the news. Actually, during its tenure, the Modi government has taken many policy decisions like lateral entry, UPS, Waqf Board, which were widely opposed and due to this opposition, the government had to change its policies. This is the reason why people believe that Modi’s government is becoming a U-turn government and is not able to stick to its decisions.
In such a situation, in this report, we know about those decisions of the Modi government, for which they had to take a U-turn for some reason or the other.
Lateral Entry
Through the Lateral Entry Scheme of UPSC, experts from the private sector are directly recruited in the ministries of the central government. These recruitments are done on the posts of Joint Secretary, Director and Deputy Director. According to the Narendra Modi government, the decision of lateral entry was taken with the aim of increasing expertise and efficiency in the government system.
Under this decision, experts from the private sector, educational institutions, and other non-governmental organizations could be directly appointed to senior positions in government departments. This system of lateral entry was quite different from the traditional civil service recruitment process, where officers are appointed through the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and other government services.
Why the decision had to be withdrawn
After the UPSC advertisement regarding lateral entry was released, opposition parties had fiercely targeted the Modi government and its scheme. On the other hand, the allies of the central government also opposed direct recruitment through this medium. Not
only this, civil service officers and associations also saw this decision of the central government as weakening the traditional recruitment process. They believed that this step could endanger the autonomy and impartiality of the civil service. Many questions were also raised on the transparency and fairness of lateral entry. Critics argued that lateral entry could increase the risk of corruption and nepotism, which could harm the credibility of the government system.
Constitutional and administrative challenges also arose regarding appointments under lateral entry, which caused difficulty in implementing this process effectively.
Union Pension Scheme
In the year 2004, when the NDA government was in power in the country, the Government of India started the NPS scheme by ending the Old Pension Scheme. This pension scheme allows government employees and other citizens to accumulate funds for retirement. New Pension Scheme is a contribution based pension system, where employees and employers make regular contributions, and after retirement, employees get a fixed amount.
Changes made due to opposition
However, this scheme of the Central Government was strongly opposed by government employees and their organizations. The main reason behind this is considered to be the lack of comparison and guarantee with the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Actually, like the Union Pension Scheme, there is no guarantee in NPS as to how much pension the employee will get after retirement.
How much money they will get depends on how much amount is in the employee’s account and how it has been invested. Due to this uncertainty, the employees were feeling insecure. Apart from this, under OPS, government employees used to get a guaranteed pension for life, due to which they felt financially secure. On the other hand, the pension received after retirement in NPS is market based, due to which employees are worried whether they will get adequate pension or not due to rising inflation and long life.
The opposition to NPS can also be seen in the results of the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Now the government has announced the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) this month. This is an attempt to reduce the anger of government employees. But although NPS has been continued as an option, the opposition to the new pension continues.
The Waqf Board Amendment Bill was also opposed
The Modi government also had to face opposition on the Waqf Board Amendment Bill introduced in Parliament on August 8. The opposition fiercely targeted the Modi government over this bill and termed it an attack on the Constitution and minorities.
After the continuous opposition of the opposition, the government did not withdraw this bill, but sent it to the Joint Parliamentary Committee i.e. JPC for discussion. The government
Had to withdraw the draft of the Broadcasting Bill
Earlier, the government had to withdraw the draft of the Broadcasting Bill 2024. In fact, the government first placed the draft of the Broadcasting Bill in the public domain on 10 November 2023. After which the opposition strongly opposed this bill. The opposition parties alleged that the government was trying to bring censorship. After the Lok Sabha elections, this bill was strongly opposed. After this the government withdrew the draft.
The Broadcasting Bill was a bill proposed by the Government of India, which aimed to tighten the regulation and control of broadcasting services (television and radio) in the country. The bill proposed the establishment of an independent regulatory body that would control and regulate broadcasting services.
Apart from this, the bill made it mandatory to have a license for broadcasting services. All channels and broadcasters had to obtain a license from the government, and strict terms and conditions were laid down for obtaining this license.
Land Acquisition Ordinance
After coming to power in 2014, the Modi government brought an ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. The purpose of this ordinance was to make land acquisition easier, especially for infrastructure and industrial projects. However, it included some controversial provisions, such as allowing land acquisition without the consent of farmers. This ordinance was widely opposed. Due to protests, especially by farmers and opposition parties, the government withdrew the ordinance and kept the original law of 2013 in force.
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