Well Begun is Half Done

I have a very sensitive nature. I cannot see anything that is in the making or unfinished. It jars my sensibilities.

My father, when he was alive, constructed a house for himself, and oversaw the construction of two houses for my sister. Whenever I came home, he will ask me to visit the construction site and give my opinion. I used to evade his request, or rather make a cursory visit without showing much interest. I couldn't make any sense out of the foundation or the semi finished house.

When the house is completed, I will be in my elements. Looking at everything wholistically, and critically, I will come up with suggestions for amendments or tell him where he has gone wrong ( he was a down to earth practical guy, with hardly any aesthetic sense, whereas I was just the opposite ).

This will drive him mad, and he would chide me for not telling this to him early, though he would try to incorporate, if he can, my suggestions, even if it means redoing the civil work.

I was reminded of this when I see articles after articles chiding Modi for not making drastic visible changes. Most of the Indians are like me. They would like to see the finished article only, but cant appreciate the work in progress. And once it is finished, they criticize with all their might.

But if you look back over the past 14 months, Modi has been busy rebuilding the Country brick by brick. To his credit, he hasn't been dogmatic. Has embraced good things from the previous government i.e GST and even the UID scheme. The ideas was to fix things not broken totally rather than reinvent the wheel. Can't blame him on this.

If we look deeply, we will see the foundation being laid for many initiatives that will change the fortune of the nation.

His foreign sojourn has led to India's prestige restored in the World Arena.

The Defense is happy with him, as he has backed them to the hilt, unlike his predecessor who dilly dallied on any reprisal. Duval has worked wonders - be it repatriating stranded Indians from strife torn areas, or taking the attack to the enemy in Myanmar, or signing the peace deal with Naga rebels. We are much safer as a country knowing Duval is keeping an eye on things.

The opening of Bank Accounts for all, will reduce diversion of subsidies and ensure the benefit reaches the ultimate  beneficiary. No mean achievement

True, Modi has been very luck with lower oil prices. But it has helped him to improve the financial position, which was in a bad state following the scorched earth policy legacy of the UPA's wasteful government.

Swatch Bharath and Digital India are the baby steps in creating a cleaner modern society. As are the Smart Cities and the AMRUT programs. 5 years down the line these initiatives, along with those regarding connectivity - roads, port and railways - will make a huge difference

Make in India is at its base stage. We need to see how it progresses before commenting on it.

Our Education system is totally broken. We are yet to see any major initiative to set it right. It just cannot be tinkered any more. This is a once in a life time opportunity to fix it. We owe it to our future generation.

One year is not a long time when one wants to fix an economy and correct decades of rot and decay.

As the saying goes, 'Well begun is half done'