Manmohan Singh: The PM During whom India Got Some Legendary Legislations

The Right to Information Act (RTI), the National Rural Employment Guarantee ACT (NREGA), and the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDM) are among the far-reaching legislations that marked a definite change in India’s journey of parliamentary democracy since 1947. Thanks to late Dr Manmohan Singh, during whose tenure as the PM all these became possible. 

The mourning from across the world and the political spectrum has proven that Dr Singh fathomed it quite rightly when he said—“I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament”— in his interview just weeks before he left the PM office in 2014. 

The RTI made it possible for the common citizen to have access to the workings of the government bringing transparency to reality. Indeed, it remains an issue of reality check about how far the RTI has empowered the citizens. It also remains an open question of how far the act is able to deliver the desired information to the citizens in the present regime. 

Notably, the RTI brought into light huge scams during Manmohan Singh’s time that we can surely recollect today. It was then possible to jail ministers and close associates of the government, thanks to the will of the government under Singh’s leadership and not to forget, the nature of the media in questioning the power. The credibility of the media in questioning the ruling dispensation is under severe criticism today—a marked deviation from what it was during Manmohan Singh. Attacks on media undoubtedly have increased manifold in recent times.

Ashok Chavan and the Adarsh Society Scam

This is one of the landmark cases that was revealed through the RTI act by activists Simpreet Singh and Yogacharya Anandji. Their series of RTI applications brought to light the nefarious nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and top military officers related to the Adarsh Society Housing, meant for the widows of the Kargil War heroes. The supposedly 6-storied building rose to a 31-storied one in the posh Colaba locality of Mumbai. Those who were targeted to benefit from the plan were kept at bay.

This revelation rocked the country in 2010 when Ashok Chavan was the Maharashtra CM. He was a Congress leader and was forced to resign from his designation and faced enquiry by CBI. Ashok Chavan fought many elections thereafter, under the shadow of corruption and joined the BJP this year.

Time will tell whether Ashok Chavan will evade the charges after joining the BJP or will get his due through the court, who had to resign during Manmohan Singh’s period.

2G Scam:

Probably, this was the beginning of the end of UPA. A scam of 1,76,645 crore rupees involving the telecom ministry led by A Raja, cost the government dearly. This too involved RTI filed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal and that by Vivek Garg. The telecom minister, A Raja was accused of having sold the spectrum to private companies at throw-away prices by taking bribes resulting in a huge loss of the government. 

Don’t we remember A Raja was arrested by the CBI in 2011? The CBI arrested someone who was a union minister.  It is high time we introspect how far can we imagine such kind of activity in today’s time. Not only A Raja but DMK leader Kanimozhi was also arrested, who was an MP belonging to the ruling UPA.

There were other exposures during Dr Singh’s tenure through the RTI. The striking feature is that his government allowed actions against its own ministers and MPs. That was the power of RTI.

RTI On Demonetization

Now let’s come to the present regime and what can be more gruelling than the demonetization that PM Narendra Modi declared in November 2016? The declaration came all of a sudden for the people and we all vividly remember the aftermath.

However, an RTI in 2019 revealed something important. Filed by Venkatesh Nayak, the RTI revealed that Modi declared demonetization before the RBI approved it. How demonetization helped curb corruption and what impact it left on the economy still remains an open question.

Manmohan Singh’s tenure will also be remembered for the NREGA which indeed impacted unemployment at the rural level. The act guaranteed 100 days of work and payment for the rural poor. The government, under the act, was legally bound to provide employment. This was one of the masterstrokes of Dr. Singh’s tenure where the government became legally responsible for guaranteeing employment. 

The MDM was another marvellous scheme under Dr Singh’s leadership, which had a significant impact in reducing school drop-outs. It also helped improve the nutritional status of the school students, especially the poor. The MDM has always been considered a smart move of the Manmohan Singh government.

Though the list doesn’t end here, these are enough to understand the deep and far-lasting impact that Manmohan Singh’s policies had in the country—at least citizens can still try to get information about the government working through RTI and children go to schools without bothering what to eat in the lunch.