THE SECOND INNINGS BEGIN…..

The swearing in ceremony is on and we have a swanky new Govt in place. The 17^th Lok Sabha is all set to get into action! Congratulations to the BJP and all the Indians who voted for a majority and avoided a deeply fractioned Parliament.

Needless to say, it was a grand ceremony. With as many as 8,000 guests, including leaders of BIMSTEC countries - Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand , Nepal and Bhutan. Prime Minister of Mauritius and President of Kyrgystan were also present. The ceremony was also attended by Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, film stars and corporate honchos. It was probably the most powerful place in India at 7 PM today. The ceremony was later followed by a high tea on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan and a dinner to be hosted by President Kovind for around 40 people.

Needless to say, there were Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata and Gautam Adani. Bollywood was represented by Boney Kapoor, Rajnikanth, Raj Kumar Hirani, Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut. Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev was also part of the guest list.

And while the new Govt knowvs pretty much what it needs to do; after all it has so many experts advising; we thought we will give our two cents on what we think needs to be done on a war footing.

1: Please begin the new Govt on a positive note; stop gloating over the loss of UPA – they are decimated, they are not even a threat any more.

2: The Govt needs to address the BIG issue of credibility – will FIIs and all losing faith in the statistical figures that the Govt releases, once and for all, the new innings should be begun on a clean slate.

3: Unemployment is undoubtedly an elephant in the china shop. It remained and grew during the past five years and that, in these couple of years needs to be dealt with; an unemployed youth is a ticking time bomb. Hoards of PSU jobs are laying vacant; that does need to be addressed first.

4: The Consumption story is dragging its feet and that needs to be given an impetus. Growth in farm income has not been in tandem with the falling prices of agri produce. And in cities, the cost of other goods and services have scaled high. Thus there is curtailment in buying.

5: Growth needs to be given a huge kick on the butt; that’s the only way to get it off its seat, especially private sector new investment. Let’s put Make in India aside for some time and put all the energies on the Indians who want to make in India.

6: Farm distress is a major issue. Instead of concentrating on only hiking MSP, more needs to be done. Maybe with so many experts on the BJP thinking panel, many out-of-the-box ideas can come up? Right from seeds to logistics, marketing, packing; everything needs a complete overhaul.

7: The issue of NPA remains a serious issue. No one talks about it; that does not mean that it does not exist. NBFCs too are sucked into this muck. Wonder what more innovative solutions can be tailor made to tackle this problem of mounting bad debts.

8: Please, please lower taxes. The Govt might be having a huge trade deficit but by taxing the middle and higher income group, the Govt is killing the very goose which lays the golden egg.

9: And if we may remind you, the Ganga remains dirty; today the Pollution Board issued a report saying that river water remains unpotable and not even fit for bathing. Namami Ganga surely needs a rework.

10: Pay attention to the environment also; its so fragile right now, if not taken care with responsibility today, it will come to bite us very badly tomorrow, more than what we are witnessing now.

11: Last but not the least, can we make this 5-year term less about hate, caste, communal slurs, discrimination, violence?