PM Modi's major achievements as his government completes eight years at Centre

Demonetisation

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the decision to scrap high-value bank notes will give the economy a further boost, and would provide long-term benefits, including forcing the country’s vast shadow economy into the open.

Under the policy, both 500 and 1,000 rupee notes ceased to be legal tenders after December 31, 2016.

“We took the demonetisation decision not for some short-term windfall gain, but for a long-term structural transformation,” Modi was quoted as saying by Economic Times.

Modi added the move would bring cash from the shadow economy into the mainstream. The Prime Minister had said the demonetisation action was needed to fight corruption and fraud and cut off financing for attacks by militants who target India.

“The multiplier effect of the introduction of money which was, till now, uselessly hoarded and stocked away as cash into the active economic system will give the economy a further boost,” he said.

Economists and some businesses say demonetisation could ultimately help broaden the formal economy and improve tax compliance.

(Photograph:Reuters)

GST bill

The goods and services tax (GST) introduced by the Modi government was India’s biggest ever tax reform in the 70 years since independence, replacing more than a dozen federal and state levies.

Officials believe it brought millions of businesses into the tax net, boosting government revenues. 

The tax required firms to upload their invoices to a portal that will match them with those of their suppliers or vendors. Companies that do not register for a tax number risked losing customers.

(Photograph:PTI)

Revoking Article 370

The Modi government revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and proposed that the state be bifurcated into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"The president on the recommendation of Parliament is pleased to declare as from 5th of August 2019, all clauses of the said Article 370 shall cease to be operative... ," stated the resolution moved by the Home Minister Amit Shah.

The decision meant revocation of a bar on property purchases by people from outside the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and that state government jobs and some college places were no longer reserved for state residents.

(Photograph:AFP)

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

The promulgation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by Modi government is deemed as yet another masterstroke.

However, the controversial CAA, which facilitates granting of Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by Parliament nearly eight months ago and had led to protests in different parts of the country

(Photograph:PTI)

Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act

President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the triple talaq bill passed by Parliament, turning it into a law which made the practice of instant divorce among Muslims a punishable offence.

The law called The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 made talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq having the effect of instantaneous and irrevocable divorce pronounced by a Muslim husband void and illegal.

It made it illegal to pronounce talaq three times in spoken, written or through SMS or WhatsApp or any other electronic chat in one sitting.

"Any pronouncement of talaq by a Muslim husband upon his wife, by words, either spoken or written or in electronic form or in any other manner whatsoever, shall be void and illegal," the law says.

Any Muslim husband who pronounces the illegal form of talaq upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine, it says.
 

(Photograph:PTI)

Ram temple in Ayodhya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the construction of a Hindu temple in the northern town of Ayodhya, which is the birthplace of Lord Ram, after the Supreme Court ruled that Hindus be allowed to build a temple there, ending years of litigation.

Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaigned for more than three decades for the temple, unveiled a plaque at the site in an elaborate ceremony to inaugurate construction.

(Photograph:AFP)