Promises kept: Have newly sworn-in Prime Ministers fulfilled their Independence Day promises?

As India celebrated its 78th Independence Day on August 15, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India) by 2047 in his 11th consecutive address from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Since India’s first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru – every newly sworn-in Prime Minister has made promises or policy announcements, or issued fervent appeals to the nation in their Independence Day address.

In the first article of this two-part series ‘Promises made, Promises kept’, we listed the promises made by Indian Prime Ministers (starting from Mr. Nehru to Mr. Modi) in their Independence Day addresses. In this article, we explore if and how these promises have been implemented by them.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru: (1952,1957, 1962)

1952’s promises: Tackle food shortage, uplift poor

Foodgrain production in India rose steadily in 1952 from 51.99 million to 59.20 million tons and plateaued at 66 to 69 million tons in 1957-58. This was mainly due to a balanced policy adopted by the Nehru government which reduced the Centre’s distribution commitments while ensuring that sufficient food demand was met at controlled prices i.e. neither total control nor complete free play of market forces, explains the United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization.

According to a World Bank report titled ‘Perspectives on poverty in India’, the percentage of people below the poverty line rose steadily in the early 1950s to a peak of 50% (urban) and 65% (rural) before falling and rising multiple times before 1960. Hence, Mr. Nehru’s promise of uplifting the poor remained unfulfilled throughout his tenure.

1957’s promises: Peace with Pakistan, neutrality in Cold war

After signing a ceasefire in 1948, India and Pakistan signed several treaties throughout Mr. Nehru’s tenure regarding protecting minorities and migrants, trade, utilisation of Indus waters, financial payments, and rail transport, in a bid to promote peace between the two neighbours. Similarly, upholding India’s intention to maintain global neutrality, the non-alignment movement was established in 1961 during the Cold War to retain an autonomy of policy between that of the two blocs headed by United States and Russia respectively.

1962’s promises: Closing wealth gap

This promise was somewhat fulfilled in the 1960s as a recent study revealed that the wealth gap rose briefly during the 1950s but then consistently fell over the next two decades to 6.1% by 1982 – likely due to the socialist policy agenda pursued by the Centre. However, India’s wealth gap is at its highest at present, with the top 1% holding 40% of the nation’s wealth.

Lal Bahudar Shastri: 1965

Promises: No talks with Pakistan, reduce machine imports, investment in agriculture, take over procurement and distribution of foodgrains

Mr. Shastri soon back-tracked from an assertion that he would not hold talks with Pakistan, as he signed the Tashkent Declaration on January 10, 1966 — a day before his untimely death. The declaration normalised peaceful relations between the two neighbours after the 1965 war in accordance to the UN Charter, with the two nations agreeing to troop withdrawal, repatriation of prisoners of war and continued talks with each other.

With the setting up of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in 1965, the Centre became the biggest purchaser of foodgrains like wheat and rice, offering minimum support price to farmers— thus fulfilling Mr. Shastri’s promise. FCI also maintains operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure food security and facilitates distribution to citizens via the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Indira Gandhi: 1967, 1971, 1980

1967’s promise: Three-language formula, tackling price rise

In 1968, Ms. Gandhi’s government rolled out India’s first National Policy on Education, which included the three-language formula advising State governments to include the study of a modern Indian language, preferably one of the Southern languages apart from Hindi and English in Hindi-speaking States and of Hindi along with English and the regional language in non-Hindi speaking states. There was progress on price rise as well: India’s inflation between 1967 and 1971 fell rapidly from 13.05% to -0.58% before stabilising at 5.09%.

1971’s promises: India’s support to Bangladesh, tackling price rise

Within a year of Bangladesh’s birth, India signed the Treaty of Peace and Friendship on March 19, 1972, pledging ‘fraternal and good-neighbourly relations’ to maintain lasting peace and respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other. On the domestic front, India’s inflation skyrocketed from 3.08% in 1971 to 28.06% in 1974 before Ms. Gandhi imposed Emergency across the nation in 1975 sinking inflation to -7.63%.

1980’s promises: Punishing the perpetrators of the Moradabad riots, root out corruption

Initially, Ms. Gandhi alleged that a ‘foreign hand’ was involved in the Moradabad riots which had killed over 300 people in several districts in Uttar Pradesh. After visiting the site, she dismissed it. Even after her promise of strict action against the perpetrators, violence continued across UP till November 1980. A blame-game between the Congress and BJP continued in Parliament, with the former blaming RSS for stoking communal violence and the latter blaming Jamaat-i-Islami for the attacks. A judicial commission probed and tabled a report in 1983 which was publicised only in 2023, clearing RSS and Dalit organisations of wrongdoing and blaming IUML leader Dr. Shamim Ahmed Khan and his supporters for instigating the riots.

Rooting out corruption is a promise which remains unfulfilled, as every succeeding Prime Minister (including Mr. Modi) has vowed to root out.

Morarji Desai: 1977

Promises: Eradicate untouchability, stabilise price rise, increase employment

Mr. Desai’s promise to ‘eradicate untouchability’ was vague as Article 17 already prohibited it and Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. Moreover, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 affirmed Dalits’ right to education, religion, use public spaces. Admittedly, there is no clarity on whether and where untouchability prevails in the nation.

Inflation in 1977 was at 8.3% before it fell to 2.5% and rose to 6.28% in 1979. Unemployment which had fallen to 1.62% in 1973 had gradually risen to 2.58% by 1978, in stark contrast to Mr. Desai’s promise.

Charan Singh: 1979

Promises: Reconsider India’s nuclear options, eradicate corruption, boost cottage and small-scale industries and offer remunerative prices to farmers

While India did not have a clear ‘No First Use’ policy in nuclear weapons till 1999, there were major changes to India’s nuclear policy prior to that. Due to his short tenure of 23 days, Mr. Singh was unable to present a budget and fulfill his agricultural promises.

Rajiv Gandhi: 1985

Promises: Peace in Assam and Punjab, Lok Pal Bill, seventh (five-year) plan, peaceful resolution to Sri Lanka-Tamil conflict

During his tenure, Mr. Gandhi signed the Rajiv-Longowal accord with the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, after releasing 1700 alleged Sikh militants jailed following the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The accord recognised the territorial, economic and religious demands of the Sikh people in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star. However, the accords failed to bring peace as Mr. Longowal was assassinated within days and the BJP slammed the Congress for being soft on Sikh Army deserters. Militancy in Punjab continued to grow.

On the Assam front, the accords set the cut-off date as January 1, 1966 after which those who entered Assam were labelled as foreigners. While this kicked off the demand for a National Register for Citizenship, the Assam agitation was ended. Versions of the Lok Pal Bill were introduced by Mr. Gandhi’s government in 1985 and 1989, but were not passed. Another promise fulfilled by Mr. Gandhi was the seventh (five-year) plan, which had several schemes to use modern technology to enhance productivity of small- and large-scale farmers, implement social welfare schemes and strengthen industrialisation.

The last hope which Mr. Gandhi had — a peaceful resolution to the Sri Lanka-Tamil conflict— failed disastrously, as it ended in him being assassinated by LTTE terrorist Dhanu at Sriperumbudur in retaliation to Mr. Gandhi’s decision to send the Indian Peace-Keeping Force to Sri Lanka.

V.P. Singh: 1990

Promises: OBC reservation, 40% reservation to poor in legislatures, national agriculture policy

The only triumph in V.P.Singh’s one-year tenure as Prime Minister is the implementation of the Mandal commission recommendations, which has stood the legal and judicial test of time till date. Apart from that, the suggestion of reserving 40% seats in legislatures for the poor has never been considered and no agricultural policy was formulated by his government.

P.V. Narasimha Rao: 1991

Promises: Incentives for foreign investors, Punjab elections, protection to minorities, rapid industrialisation, Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water mission

Following through on his promises, Mr. Rao opened up the Indian market to foreign investors by allowing foreign equity investment of up to 51% in 34 industries without permission from the Centre. He also eased permission norms for new investment into various sectors, paving the way for industrialisation. Heimplemented Phase 1 of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water mission,providing water to 31,249 villages.

Elections were held in Punjab with the Congress winning 87 of 117 seats.

The only promise he failed to fulfill was the one to protect minorities, as the Ram Janmabhoomi movement peaked during his regime, culminating in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Riots ensued across India in Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Bhopal, Mumbai and Delhi, killing almost 2,000 people— with 900 killed in Mumbai alone.

H. D. Deve Gowda: 1996

Promises: Assurances to J&K, Uttarakhand formation, continuing Agni and Prithvi defence programme, extending PDS, national water-sharing policy

Making Jammu-Kashmir his first priority, Mr. Gowda followed through on his promisea by visiting the Valley and restaring State elections— the first since the 1987 elections, which were mostly believed to be a political understanding between the Congress and the National Congress. He also extended PDS to offer free foodgrains to the poor. While he did announce the formation of Uttarakhand, it was only in 1998 that the Vajpayee government sent the UP reorganisation Bill to the State assembly, paving way for a new state in 2000. He also failed to amend the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, which was first passed in 1965.

I.K. Gujral: 1997

Promises: Root out corruption, Lokpal Bill, Right to Information, refusal to sign CTBT, ceasefire in Nagaland

The astute diplomat-turned-Prime Minster faced many foreign policy successes with the Gujral doctrine which set the tone for India’s policy towards its neighbours. His other success is India’s refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) – a policy in force till date. His government signed a ceasefire agreement with NSCN(I-M), ending a bloody chapter of militancy in Nagaland. While his government failed to pass the Lokpal Bill, it appointed a working group in 1997 to study the scope and exclusions by the government officials under the Right to Information Act.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee: 1998

Promises: Cauvery accord implementation, protection to minorities, 100 million jobs in ten years, fund for education of girls

As per his promise, Mr. Vajpayee’s government constituted the Cauvery River Authority in 1998. Four years later, this body (headed by Mr. Vajpayee himself) ordered Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs (0.8 tmcft) of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

On the job front, the Vajpayee government created 6 crore jobs between 1999-2004, his Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha claims in his book ‘India Unmade: How the Modi Government Broke the Economy’. Mr. Vajpayee also implemented the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to ensure that every child in the age group of 6-14 years gets free and compulsory education.

Manmohan Singh: 2004, 2009

Promises: Postponing date of repayment of farm loans, expanding budget for minorities, 9% growth rate

While he made no promises in his first term, Dr. Singh implemented a pan-India loan waiver for farmers under the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, costing the exchequer Rs 60,000 crores. However, he retained the budget for minority affairs ministry at Rs 1000 crores, offering no expansion as promised.

Despite a global recession, India saw boosted economic growth, recording a a GDP growth rate of 8% in 2009-10.

Narendra Modi: 2014, 2019, 2024

2014’s promises: NITI Aayog, PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), manufacturing hub

In March 2015, the Modi government formed the NITI Aayog to replace the 64-year old Planning Commission, which aimed to provide strategic and technical advice to the government on policy-making. Mr. Modi also launched the direct cash transfer scheme, PMJDY, which saw an increase of adults having bank accounts from 53% in 2014 to 80% in 2017.

However, the manufacturing sector in India did not see major growth in Mr. Modi’s first term. In 2014, manufacturing contributed to 15.07% of the GDP and in subsequent years it recorded growth rates of 15.58%, 15.16%, 15% and 14.88%.

2019’s promises: CDS appointment, Jal Jeevan mission, ban on single-use plastics, Infrastructure investment boost

In his second term, Mr. Modi appointed General Bipin Rawat on December 30, 2019 as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, a day before his retirement, fulfilling a major promise to India’s Armed forces. He also launched his flagship drinking water scheme – Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)— that year, to ensure potable drinking water security in every rural household and public institution across India by 2024. However, as of date, only 78% of India has access to tapped water. The ban on single-use plastics was implemented on October 2, 2019 while a scheme to boost investement in infrastructure — Gati Shakti — was announced two years later.

2024’s promises: secular civil code, peace with Bangladesh, boost to chip manufacturing, simultaneous polls

Mr. Modi set out several promises in this year’s Independence Day speech; whether these will be fulfilled by the end of his third term remains to be seen. With political chaos reigning in Bangladesh, which is also headed to polls soon, it is yet to be seen how India will ensure peace in its neighbourhood. The fulfillment of BJP’s core poll-promies – implementing the Uniform Civil Code – has also gained traction with multiple private member bills being tabled on that issue. Moreover, a committee headed by ex-President Ram Nath Kovind has already submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu backing the proposal of ‘One Nation, One Election’.