Going Off Track

The jobs crisis, bank loans mess and farm distress have combined to drag down the economy. The Modi government’s image reflects its faltering performance.

- M.G. Arun & Shwweta Punj

WITH JUST MONTHS TO GO before the general election, the Indian economy isn’t looking as rosy as the Narendra Modi-led BJP government would have wanted. Despite the move to a purported simpler tax structure through the Goods and Services Tax (GST), some far-reaching reforms on the financial front through the new insolvency laws and benign crude oil prices for most of its tenure, the government is still grappling with a difficult economy. The situation is all the more bleak considering the government came to power on the promise of putting the battered economy inherited from the UPA government back on track, with the promise of higher growth, more jobs and better living conditions.

The disappointment is amply reflected in the Mood of the Nation (MOTN) survey for January 2019. Though the general view persists that the Modi government’s economic performance has been better than the Congress-led UPA’s, there is a fall in their number. Some 49 per cent respondents still believe the BJP-led NDA government has done better, but the drop of seven percentage points in the past one year is a matter of grave concern. As many as 28 per cent feel the economic performance has been worse, the highest negative score in the past seven surveys. Overall, 41 per cent feel the economic per formance is either worse or the same as the UPA government.