Modi Govt: Driving Self-Reliance & Transformative Change for Poor

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The Modi government’s schemes empower the poor, farmers, and middle class, while propelling India to economic progress and the path to a developed future.

By VISHNU DAYAL RAM

RANCHI, June 11, 2025 — On the completion of 11 years of achievements of Modi government, I am proud that I have been a part of this golden journey as a soldier from the beginning. This government is constantly trying to bring a big change in the lives of the poor, farmers, lower middle class and common people and is successfully moving forward on that path. The country is on course to become the fourth largest economy of the world along with becoming self-reliant and is moving ahead on the path of developed India.

For the poor and the marginalized, dozens of schemes of the government have brought revolutionary changes.

When I, as a public representative, talk to the people of my area about their problems, they also discuss the changes coming in their daily life. I want to specifically mention some schemes here which not only changed the lives of the people but also created history.

First of all, I talk about PM Jan Dhan Yojana. This scheme connected 55 crore people to the banking system of the country who had not seen a bank even in the 21st century. When the Modi government came to power, it realized how to deliver the benefits of the schemes and the amount received under it to those far-flung people safely without any leakage. Lakhs of people have been financially empowered by this scheme. Today 80 per cent of adults in the country have bank accounts. Today about 6 lakh villages are getting the benefit of banking services within 5 kilometers. Similarly, the scope of digital transactions has now become wider. Even in villages, you can see people making payments through mobile without hesitation. The Modi government helped crores of people to do and expand business through Mudra loans. Talking about the figures, the average size of Mudra loan in the financial year 2025 has increased to more than 1 lakh rupees, which was 38 thousand in 2016.

Now I discuss Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Scheme. This is a revolutionary scheme in itself, which provides medical coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to more than 50 crore people. Elderly people above 70 years of age have now been included in this scheme, who get health coverage regardless of the source of income. More than 1 lakh 76 thousand Arogya Mandirs have been built under Ayushman Bharat. Similarly, people are getting a lot of relief from the cheap medicines available at Jan Aushadhi Kendras and people are saving money.

Similarly, the PM Awas Yojana is proving to be helpful in fulfilling the dream of poor people to have their own house. More than 4 crore people have taken advantage of this scheme.

When Prime Minister Modi gave the slogan of Swachh Bharat as soon as he came to power, the opposition parties ridiculed it. But if we carefully review the Swachh Bharat Mission, it was a timeless decision. Due to the determination of the Prime Minister, mothers and sisters who were forced to defecate in the open for generations got toilets in their homes. According to the data till 2023, more than 11 crore toilets had been built under this scheme.

Similarly, LPG connections have been provided to 10 crore families so far under the PM Ujjwala Yojana. This not only removed the concern of poor health of women suffering from smoke in wood stoves, but also reduced domestic pollution. In many areas of the country, people were forced to fetch water from miles away. Clean drinking water was not available in rural areas. Today, availability of water is being ensured through Jal Jeevan Mission.

The Modi government has been alert about urban and rural infrastructure from the beginning. The expanding network of expressways, beautiful national highways, roads inside cities and rural roads have changed. For example, if I talk about my Palamu Lok Sabha constituency, then this constituency is considered one of the most backward areas of the country, but even there the schemes of the Center were successfully implemented. For the development of a very backward district like Palamu, an amount of about 50,000 crores was allocated by the central government, in which unprecedented work was done mainly in the field of road infrastructure, education, health, water.

In the last 11 years, the Modi government has taken important steps towards making the Indian judicial system modern, transparent, and citizen-centric by removing colonial-era laws and implementing new laws. The Indian Judicial Code and related laws have enhanced timely justice, digital facilities, and the ability to deal with modern crimes. This is definitely a historic achievement, which is a big step towards freeing India from colonial mindset and towards indigenous legal framework.

Based on my experience of serving in the police service for a long period, I can say, in particular, the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act have been replaced by three new laws—the Indian Justice Code (BNS), the Indian Civil Defence Code (BNSS), and the Indian Evidence Act (BSA)—which were implemented from 1 July 2024. These changes aim to eliminate colonial mindset, make the law simpler and citizen-centric, and deal with contemporary challenges such as cybercrime, terrorism, and organized crime. The Indian Justice Code (BNS), 2023 now replaces the IPC. It amended 533 sections, added 133 new sections, replaced 9 sections, and deleted 9. The colonial sedition law (IPC Section 124A) was abolished and Section 150 was introduced to punish acts against the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of the country.

Not only this, for the first time, terrorism was defined in the law, which will make it possible to take strict action against terrorist activities. A separate chapter was added for crimes against women and children. The statement of rape victims will be recorded by a female police officer, and the medical report will have to be given in 7 days. The Code of Indian Civil Protection (BNSS), 2023 was brought in place of CrPC, in which many provisions were added to ensure timely justice. Now any person can register an FIR at any police station or online, making filing a complaint easier and faster. Talking about other major legal reforms, triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) was declared illegal. Its purpose was to empower Muslim women and stop this practice. The Modi government repealed about 1500 colonial laws of the British era, which were now irrelevant.

The Prime Minister’s residence 7 Race Course Road in Delhi was renamed as Lok Kalyan Marg, which was part of the removal of colonial symbols. Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was removed, and the state was divided into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. This allowed central laws to apply there, and non-residents could buy land.

(This is an opinion piece; views expressed solely belong to the author. The writer is Lok Sabha MP from Palamu and former DGP, Jharkhand.)

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