Table of Contents
1 – RAISING INDIA’S GDP
- He took India to the new heights by introducing economic reforms. Under his tenure from 1998 to 2004, India maintained a GDP rate of eight per cent, the inflation level came down to four per cent and foreign exchange reserves were flourishing
- Although India faced catastrophic events during his tenure, including earthquake (2001), two cyclones (1999 and 2000), a horrible drought (2002-2003), oil crises (2003), the Kargil conflict (1999), and a Parliament attack, yet he maintained a stable economy
2 – SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
- Chandrayaan-1 – Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the project on course in his Independence Day speech on 15 August 2003.
- On India’s 56th Independence Day, he said, “Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own spacecraft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan.
- He made India a nuclear weapon state. In 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests in one week
3 – THE RISE OF THE INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY
- His government introduced a revenue-sharing model under New Telecom Policy which helped telecom firms to get away with fixed license fees
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was separately created to head over the services and policies
- To further enhance the telecom sector, he created Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal • International telephone service Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd was ended
4 – ROAD PROJECTS
- Largest highway project in India and the fifth longest in the world, at 5,846 km. Started by the NDA government led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- It is a network of highways that connect the four major metropolitan cities of the country in four directions – Delhi (North), Chennai (South), Kolkata (East) and Mumbai (West) – thereby forming a quadrilateral, and hence the name Golden Quadrilateral.
5 – INTRODUCTION TO FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT
- Besides raising India’s GDP to eight per cent in his tenure, he further introduced the Fiscal Responsibility Act which aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit and boost public-sector savings.
- The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill (FRBM Bill) was introduced in India by the then Finance Minister of India, Mr.Yashwant Sinha in December 2000
6 – PRIVATISATION
- Among the several milestones in his brief period of the ruling, privatisation was also appreciated
- Giving rise to private business in India, it reduced the government’s involvement in the industry
- Further, he formed a separate disinvestment ministry. The most important disinvestments were Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) and Hindustan Zinc, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited and VSNL
7 – EDUCATION POLICY
- It was for the first time in India that elementary education became free for children aged 6-14 years
- It was launched in 2001 and brought a drastic change in the number of dropouts by 60 per cent
8 – PRADHANMANTRI GRAMIN SADAK YOJNA
- Pradhanmantri Gramin SadakYojna connected distant villages across the country with a network of all-weather roads.
9 – DIPLOMACY IN A DIFFICULT ERA
10 – LAHORE DECLARATION
- The Lahore Declaration was a bilateral agreement and governance treaty between India and Pakistan.
- The treaty was signed on 21 February 1999, at the conclusion of a historic summit in Lahore, and ratified by the parliaments of both countries the same year
BRINGING DIGNITY IN POLITICS
Indian History | Free PDF
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