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Home , Manmohan Singh, Pratibha Patil

4 REPORT CARD | MONDAY, 21 MAY 2012 1 > 3 YEARS OF UPA-II THE TIME LINE Past imperfect, future uncertain 2009

he United Progressive Alliance The most lasting legacy of the gov- away as the entire winter session of Social and financial inclusion was deficit of the Centre has risen to 5.9 per (UPA) came to power for the ernment has to be high food prices. Parliament in 2011 went without the big idea of the UPA, especially UPA cent of GDP last fiscal against 4.9 per T second time on 22 May 2009. It Despite repeated monetary interven- transacting any useful business, peak- II. But success reported was limited. cent in 2010-11. There has been no was a sharper, stronger UPA, with 61 tions, food inflation defied control, ing with an anti-corruption campaign To be fair, some of the government’s reform of the subsidy regime for petro- more MPs than before, minus the leading to an overall loss of credibility by social activist , the problems were externally generated. leum products. The net result? No one crutches of the Left parties that had as the government’s own inflation con- aftereffects of which linger . As the euro zone crisis failed to resolve was happy and UPA-II became a victim caused the government so much grief trol deadlines were breached repeat- If in its first term, the UPA com- and RBI remained focused on fighting of policy paralysis. May United Progressive Alliance (UPA) wins the elections and in its first term. , edly. It didn’t help that ministers – plained of being hams- inflation, the overall It showed. UPA lost one election forms a government, re-electing Manmohan Singh as Prime Prime Minister for the second time, Minister of State for External Affairs, trung by the Left, it was Food inflation defied economic growth was after another, capping its perform- Minister. UPA gets 61 seats more than its earlier tenure put together his 78-member team of being the first and one of its own allies, the control, leading to an estimated to decline to ance with the party’s sorry perform- young and some old faces, in one Telecom Minister A Raja and MP and Trinamool Congress overall loss of credibility 6.9 per cent (last fiscal) ance in the Assembly June announces stimulus packages to forestall week, suggesting the UPA would hit Commonwealth Games Committee that stymied some of its as the government’s against 8.4 per cent in elections where it increased its elec- challenges of the recession. It promises a national Food Security the ground running. chief Suresh Kalmadi following – had most ambitious moves own inflation control each of the previous toral presence by a mere six seats. Act and overhaul of PDS The hopes were belied. Months into to step down on charges of cronyism in its second term. deadlines were two financial years. The only success story is relations office, the ministries of rural develop- and corruption. The perception of the Foreign Direct Investm- breached repeatedly Due to slackening of with . With a proposed June Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Pakistan President ment, human resource development, government was that all it was doing ent (FDI) in retail was demand overseas, cur- Pakistan visit by the Prime Minister , the first meeting in Singh’s second term home, finance and commerce reported was feathering its own nest. nixed by TMC; and when it didn’t like rent account deficit rose to 4 per cent of later this year, this is a justifiable some results thanks to energetic min- The government’s defence - that - the railway budget (2012) it replaced the GDP in the first nine months of last fis- feather in the government’s cap – and July Agriculture Minister announces a drought isters. But the actual rollout of crucial effective legislation to check corrup- Railway Minister and got the passenger cal. In the darkest days of 1990-91, the makes up for an otherwise dismal per- has the country in its grips steps like Right to Education took time. tion had been drafted- was swept fare hike proposal rolled back. deficit was 3 per cent. The actual fiscal formance. September A helicopter crash kills the Chief Minister INDIA IN THE LAST 3 YEARS... AND THE REST of , YS How they performed on various indices Rajasekhara Reddy GDP Growth Markets Inflation Fiscal Deficit* Current Account # (constant prices) (change in stock index) (average consumer prices) (% GDP) Balance (% GDP) December Government announces it will create Telangana INDIA ------out of Andhra Pradesh 2010 January Violent protests in Hyderabad over a separate state of 2009-10 8.4 80.54 12.4 6.5 -2.8 Telangana force the government to hand over the matter to Justice Srikrishna. The Srikrishna report in January 2011 suggested six options, none yet acted on

2010-11 8.4 10.4 4.9 -2.7 February A bomb explodes in a bakery in killing 17 10.94 people

February President Pratibha says in her address to 2011-12 6.9 8.4 5.9 -3.6 Parliament that India’s growth rate will be above 8 per cent in -10.50 2010-11 and 9 per cent in 2011-22. She also promises early passage of the Communal Violence Bill, yet to see the light of OTHER day. Says 20 km of National Highways will be built every day COUNTRIES 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 April Government notifies free education for children Argentina 0.8 9.1 8.8 110.8 42.7 -20.8 6.2 10.4 9.7 1.4 0.3 -0.7 2 0.5 -0.5 May Maoists blow up more than 30 policemen in a bus in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh Brazil -0.3 7.5 2.7 71.9 -2.5 -5.9 4.9 5.0 6.6 1.3 2.2 -2.7 -1.5 -2.2 -2.1 May An Air India plane shoots off the runway in Mangalore 9.2 10.4 9.2 31.0 -5.8 -22.7 -0.7 3.3 5.4 -2.2 -2.5 -1.8 5.2 5.1 2.7 killing 158 June Government announces-market linked prices for petrol. Russia -7.8 4.3 4.3 87.6 25.1 -16.3 11.6 6.8 8.4 -7.9 -3.9 -0.8 4.1 4.7 5.5 Fuel prices were increased eight times until there was a pause in January 2012 which still continues

South Africa -1.5 2.9 3.1 40.1 12.4 1.9 7.1 4.3 4.9 -6.8 -5.0 -5.5 -4.0 -2.8 -3.3 September launched Turkey -4.8 9.0 8.5 119.4 13.9 -3.1 6.2 8.6 6.4 -5.5 -3.6 -1.8 -2.2 -6.4 -9.9

Note: All figures are change in per cent over previous year; *: Negative sign in fiscal deficit indicates surplus; #: Negative sign indicates a current account deficit Sources: IMF, Bloomberg;

The UPA’s performance record ILLUSTRATION: BINAY SINHA October India hosts the in the ; WHAT GOVT DID MIXED BAG shadow of corruption charges Right to Education Economic management left November The Comptroller and Auditor General’s audit of 2G a lot to be desired. Last In April 2010, the government notified a fiscal, the actual fiscal spectrum/licences sale puts loss of revenue at ~1.76 lakh crore, scheme of free education for all children deficit of the Centre rose to indicts Minister A Raja for ignoring PM’s advice. Parliament stalled up to 14, but critics say the proposal does not address the issue of education quality. November Recorded conversations of 5.9% corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with journalists Skill development programme of GDP from 4.9 in 2011-12. and politicians reveal murky secret negotiations To tap into the demographic dividend, a But terror attacks came ahead of the selection of Cabinet ministers for programme to develop specific skills and down and relations with UPA-II in 2009 meet labour shortfalls till 2022 was laun- Pakistan began to ched. Developed under Public Private normalise. 2011 February Former Telecom Minister A Raja Partnership, the programme has got a arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation corpus of ~2,500 crore, made in a budgetary for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam grants in 2012-13. WHAT : GOVT March The Supreme Court annulls the appointment Unique Identification Number authority DID NOT DO nation of of the Central Vigilance Commissioner PJ Thomas It was the Big Idea of the UPA – have a biometric- chief minis- based identification system that would prevent Infra targets ters’ discre- March Manmohan leakages, duplication and corruption. Headed Were ambitious but tionary quotas, state Singh and Pakistan Prime by technocrat , UID or Aadhaar could not be met. In UPA funding of elections, an Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was mired in controversies ranging from cost I, they could achieve open, competitive sys- watch a World Cup cricket overruns to turf wars with agencies engaged in road construction at only 4.1 km a day, but the tem of exploiting natural match together in Mohali similar work, but is now making steady progress. government managed to increase it to only 7 km resources, and legal fast-track- a day last year, falling short of the 20 km a day tar- ing of corruption cases. There has April Former Relations with Pakistan get. The capacity of major ports increased mar- been talk but no action on any of those. Commonwealth Games Normalisation of relations with Pakistan has ginally from 575 million tonne in March 2009 to Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi arrested for proceeded apace, despite the government. 689.83 million tonnes per annum by March 2012. they won and Economic management corruption in the Games After the disastrous Sharm El Sheikh meeting, The power sector grew by 6.8 per cent and 5.7 per (they have a one-MLA majority) but had There has been no labour reform, elimination of the resumption of the engagement with cent in the first two years and improved its per- a poor showing in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. oil subsidy, or any real move towards reform of the April Social activist Anna Hazare launches his Pakistan was heralded with the cricket match formance to around 10 per cent last year, but coal West was sui generis. The less said about Public Distribution System. Not much has chang- first fast to demand a stronger Lok Pal Bill the two top leaders of India and Pakistan production fell by 3 per cent in 2011-12, compared the recent round – including UP – the better. ed in the mining sector. There has been little or no watched in Mohali. The pace is slow, but this is to zero growth in 2010-11 and 8 per cent growth in administrative reform and tax reforms like the April Five corporate honchos arrested a foreign policy success story of the UPA. the previous two years. This was largely due to the Legislative agenda Goods & Services Tax and the Direct Taxes Code in the 2G spectrum scam environment policy bottlenecks and the govern- The Opposition did not let the Houses function languish for want of political consensus. Worse, Prevention of terror attacks and Natgrid ment’s failure to clear those. (the winter session of 2011). Then their own retrospective amendments to tax laws, includ- May becomes first woman After the Mumbai terror attacks, the government lack of preparedness and allies let them down ing the Vodafone case, added to uncertainty. The chief minister of West Bengal patiently put in place an intelligence network Winning elections (in the case of the Companies Bill, Land government’s inflation management has been that created a grid of intelligence sharing. Disastrous! the first challenge was the Arunachal Acquisition Bill) and the Special Marriages inept and policy changes relating to FDI have July Serial bomb blasts in Mumbai kill 26 Pradesh (AP), and Haryana assem- (Amendment) Bill. A similar delay has dogged met a brick wall at the door of allies, even as FDI Food security bly elections in 2009. The Congress-Nationalist Bills for reforms in the banking and insurance inflows continue to grow, at $42 billion in April- August Social activist Anna Hazare breaks his 12-day fast. The government did announce that instead of Congress Party just managed to form a govern- sectors and the competition authority. February 2011-12 compared to $33 billion in 2010- Government promises effective Lok Pal Bill letting grain rot in godowns, it would sell it to ment for a second time in Maharashtra; their 11 and $38 billion the year before. The stock mar- the poor at low rates. However, the proposal seats in Haryana came down drastically and AP Corruption-related agenda ket, too, fell in sync with a slowdown in FII flows December More than 50 killed in fire accident at AMRI will be meaningless until an overhauled Public was the only state they won. The losing streak In the 2010 Congress plenary session at Burari, at $17 billion in April-February 2011-12, down from Hospital, Kolkata Distribution System is in place. dogged the UPA in Bihar (2010) and in 2011, party President promised elimi- $29 billion in each of the two previous years. 2012 January In a major setback for the government, the Supreme Court rules in favour of Vodafone in the $2 billion tax case says capital gains tax was not applicable to the telecom major VOICES February The Supreme Court orders cancellation of all the 122 unified access service licences

March Govt forced to roll back provisions of the Railway Budget under pressure from key ally Trinamool Congress. Union Budget introduces controversial tax amendments and GAAR, which, “The ruling government “UPA II began with great “This is a government "External conditions in the “The issue of rising prices however, got postponed by a year is very weak. They are expectations. This caught in a circular logic. UPA II are far less benign has been a matter of facing a policy paralysis, momentum has not been The nation needs strategic than NDA, while regional deep concern for us in the March Letter from Army Chief VK Singh (who earlier fought a and the popularity of the sustained either through direction, intent to govern parties are much stronger. government. There is a messy battle with the govt over his age) to the prime minister ruling party and strong implementation of and not "making do". You The ruling regime has to growing anger on that on defence preparedness leaks to the press government has fallen. It the rights-based laws or in can't have a government master the skill of creating and because of it people could lose its majority if the passage of new social that lives on frequent alignments among are not conceding all the March Results of five assembly elections held earlier in the year the BJP were to push for policy legislations like accommodation and independent actors to achievements of this UPA are out. Congress wins in two out of five; performs badly in UP mid-term polls.” Right to Food, Lok Pal, etc.” megalomanic charity.” ensure unified action." government.“ ARUNA ROY SUBROTO BAGCHI ARUN MAIRA April Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgrades its outlook for India, citing fiscal stress and poor governance Leader of Opposition in the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Co-founder & chairman of MindTree Planning Commission member Minister for Information & Broadcasting