On Tuesday, Modi cabinet approved Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2015, to be tabled in the Parliament later. Now, this was a bill originally drafted by the erstwhile UPA government to safeguard the home buyers' interests from the prying and cheating ways of developers.
The draft approved by cabinet on Tuesday has watered down several crucial provisions to the detriment of the general public aspiring for a house of his own. One of such provisions in the bill drafted by UPA was to put 70% amount of total cost of the house in an neutral or escrow account for development of the project. Now Modi government has brought this amount down to 50%. Another crucial provision earlier in the bill was to entitle the appellate tribunal with the power to punish, director, manager or other officers of the developing company, in case they relegated on their promises. Draft approved by Modi government has totally deleted this provision. Further, there will not be any check on the antecedent of a builder before registering of a new project.There will also be no blacklisting of developers even if they defaulted on two projects earlier. These two clauses have also been removed by Modi government before approving the Real Estate Bill.
Now, what the public is going to get as a regulatory authority of real estate will be no more than a toothless tiger.
It is said that real estate had been lobbying hard to get those hard provisions out of the proposed bill. And they have succeeded eventually. The self styled Chowkidaar of Aam Aadmi, which Modi proclaims himself has seriously compromised the interest of public at large and instead has advanced the much maligned real estate lobby's interests.
This is not the first instance of Modi government defaulting on its promise to be a pro public government. All, its actions since inaguration on May 26th last year have been pointing towards pursuance of a sinister agenda.
The raging debate on Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill is another case. The whole lot of farmers' organisations have been opposing the proposed amendments. All of opposition is united in targeting the government over its anti farmer proposals. Still, Modi and his ministers are defiant. They don't want the impediment of Social Impact Assessment or SIA in acquiring a piece of land. Neither they want a mandatory consent of the 70% of land owners before acquisition. And. to top it all, they don't even want to give aggrieved parties a chance to legally challenge the acquisition. Not only that, the government proposes to for the acquirer to hold the land back forever, even if they don't develop it according to the intent shown at the time of land acquisition. To make matters worse, if land is acquired for a railway or highway project, the acquirer will have the right to acquire land 2 kilometers on the both sides of the project. These proposals, if the bill is passed, will make land acquisition a child's play. Mighty and powerful people will be able to lay hand on any land they would like, in the name of development and they will be able to hold on that piece, even if they don't develop it as promised during acquisition!
Modi's most trusted deputy, Arun Jaitley while demonizing the opposition to the proposed amendments, has said in the parliament that, opposition parties should not feel sadistic thrill while derailing a developmental agenda. PM Modi himself preached that oppositions shouldn't spread canards regarding Land Acquisition Amendment Bill. His organisation commander Amit Shah recently thundered that BJP will not be cowed down on the face of even united opposition.
These grand standings are okay on the face of hypocrite opposition. But along with the opposition, Modi government has to face the changing public perception. An accusation that this government is only for corporates is being polished by the government itself through each of its actions. The perception of being anti poor is fast becoming reality.
More so, when after erratic weather system has almost destroyed the crops around whole of the nation. But, while agriculture is in great distress, Modi government has even failed to recognize it as crisis, accusing state governments in sending reports regarding farmers' suicide. How the government is dealing with this agrarian crisis, became clear when Home Minister Rajnath Singh made an aerial survey to get a hand over loss of crop. An aerial survey! Even Sonia Gandhi fared better when she made visits in the farmlands of Rajasthan, Haryana and UP. The callous approach of Modi government in dealing with farmers's woes, has changed the perception overnight in rural areas. Those MPs of BJP coming from rural areas are getting a BIG No from their associates when asked to enroll new members into the party fold. They BJP foot soldiers aren't ready to face the public ire.
And they are saying that perception about Modi government is changing across boardrooms too. Earlier Deepak Parekh had criticized the NDA government in failing to change even the mood. More and more of business community people are venting their unhappiness over the way things are moving in Modi regime.
This perception about Modi government becoming reality was not a making of opposition. It started with first deregulation diesel prices and then hiking government duties whenever crude prices dipped. Instead of passing on the benefits of cheap oil to the public, the government saw cheap oil as a way to correct it balance sheet. Then came the much hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Modi picked broom to
And not just this perception, many other hearsay about Modi is proving to be true about him. His apathy for consensus has led to his PMO preaching each and every minister to wait for a sermon, or a target being set by PMO, to work upon.
Modi has been trying to replicate his much hyped Gujarat Model on a national governance level. But, so far, this has been proving to be a disaster, as far as the public is concerned. MPs and Ministers are busy making bizarre statements one after another. And Modi has not been able to do anything to check his unruly lot except issuing warnings. This has clearly put Modi at par with his helpless predecessor Manmohan Singh.
In his penchant to undo the doings of Nehru Gandhi family, Modi summarily dismantled the Planning commission. But the time he took to decide upon establishing NITI, clearly showed he had no plans beyond destroying and old system.
During the last years general elections, Modi bragged almost in all of his election rallies about being chowkidar of public in Delhi. But after assuming office of the Prime Minister, he has more been seen as ever dress changing PM, who even wore a rupee 10 lakh pinstripe suit, only to auction it after criticism. He has been on a foreign trip almost every month of his tenure so far. This infamous pinstripe suit is now pinned to Modi's image.
Last year when Modi achieved a thumping majority in General elections, he was hailed as a game changer. But as the months have passed by, the more he is trying to do the opposite, the more he is looking like a repeat of Manmohan government. It is said that Modi is heading a callous, thick skinned anti people government, which doesn't cares a bit about general public. These all accusations sticking to Modi, more so because, this is also a thing of perception. Where people believe that in NDA government, it is one and only Modi who is doing all the walking and talking.
To stop this perception becoming reality, he has an uphill task cut out. The question is, is he ready for that?
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