On March 31, the INDIA alliance parties will hold a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. The message for India’s 2024 general elections is a simple one: BJP versus Democracy. On the other flank, BJP offers “Modi Ki Guarantee”.

Here are 15 guarantees promised by Narendra Modi and his party. What’s the warranty on each guarantee? Judge for yourself.

1. Jobs: The BJP had promised to create “25 crore jobs” in their 2014 manifesto. In 2023, a Union minister admitted that only “1.2 crore jobs were created since 2014”. Reportedly, the minister referred to EPFO data to substantiate his claims on employment. As things stand, four out of ten graduates under the age of 25 are unemployed (‘State of Working India 2023’ report by Azim Premji University’s Centre for Sustainable Employment).

2. Doubling farmers’ income: Incomes needed to grow by 10 per cent year-on-year from 2015 in order to double by 2022. Actual growth has been only 3.5 per cent. At these growth rates, the guarantee will only be delivered in 2035. As per the latest NCRB data, the grim reality is that 30 farmers commit suicide every day.

(Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2022)

3. Demonetisation: Bringing back black money, curbing counterfeiting, stopping terrorism, ending corruption — all guarantees have failed. 99 per cent of the demonetised currency has come back into the system. This hare-brained scheme was nothing short of an act of economic terrorism.

4. Ujjwala scheme: As per reports, despite subsidies, over 1.2 crore households bought no refill cylinders at all in 2022-23. Another 1.5 crore beneficiaries bought only one refill cylinder.

5. Bullet Train: The project was announced in 2017. Since then, the deadline has been pushed several times.

6. Swachh Bharat Mission: In the last five years, 367 persons have died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks (Lok Sabha, Unstarred Question No 440, replied on 05/12/2023, Annexure II). This is despite manual scavenging being banned in India since 2013.

7. Namami Gange: Pollution levels in the Ganga are higher than the levels recorded in 2014. More than half of the sewerage plant projects have been completed. According to the ‘Quantitative analysis of Microplastics along River Ganga’ study by Toxics Link in 2021, of the samples tested, the highest concentration of microplastic pollutants was found in Varanasi — which also happens to be the Prime Minister’s constituency.

8. Sagarmala Project: A port-led initiative to enhance India’s logistics sector. According to the Demands for Grants 2022-23 committee, out of the 44 projects in development, 31 projects had reportedly not received any funds.

9. PM Kisan: Rs 3,000 crore was transferred to 42 lakh ineligible farmers till 2021. The Union government recovered only one-tenth of the amount from fraudulent beneficiaries. (Rajya Sabha, Session 263, Unstarred Question No 12, Answered on 02/02/2024)

10. Atma Nirbhar Bharat: The scheme guaranteed Rs 3 lakh crore in collateral-free automatic loans to MSMEs. However, the reality is that only existing borrowers were targeted.

11. Digital India: There have been several Aadhar-based data breaches in recent years. Last year, the private data of 81 crore Indians was leaked to hackers on the dark web.

12. Railway infrastructure: 244 train accidents between 2017 and 2022. 15 major accidents in 2023 alone. Half of the compulsory track safety inspections were not completed. The Railway Budget has been subsumed under the Union Budget.

13. Nari-shakti: Until 2021, nearly 80 per cent of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme funds were spent on advertising. In 2021-22, women labourers earned 60 per cent of what men did (‘Economic Growth, Structural Change, and Women’s Earnings in India’, CASI, University of Pennsylvania). 4,45,256 crimes occurred against women in 2022. This translates to 51 First Information Reports (FIRs) every hour. (NCRB Crime in India 2022)

14. Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN): Of the 774 routes awarded under the aviation scheme UDAN-3, half could not initiate operations. Of the 371 routes that did start operations, only one-third could complete the three-year concession period. (CAG Report, Union Government (Civil), Ministry of Civil Aviation, No. 22 of 2023, (Compliance Audit), Para 3.1.1)

15. Hunger: Three out of four Indians cannot afford a healthy balanced diet. (The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023, FAO). Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, a scheme started in response to COVID-19, had to be extended for five more years. As the number of billionaires increases manifold, 80 crore Indians are still dependent on free rations for their meals.

Modi guarantee. Zero warranty.

[This article was also published in The Indian Express | Friday, March 29, 2024]