Plans laudable, but execution is key

Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows how to showcase his ideas and explain how successful his ideas have been. Modi who shared the dais with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev at a programme on 'Save Soil Movement' at Vigyan Bhawan on Sunday utilised the opportunity to announce how India achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol five months ahead of its target.

His style of communication and the way he tries to connect with the people certainly casts a kind of spell among the audience and he gets huge applause. Narrating small examples or his childhood experiences, Modi tries to explain how the government is transforming the lives of people. He will never allow the credit to go to others and while appreciating the efforts of others, he will dwell on his government efforts in the area.

The meeting which was organised to mark the completion of 75th day of the 100-day motorcycle journey of Sadhguru across 27 countries to increase awareness about deteriorating soil health and coincided with the World Environment Day got converted into a platform for Modi to take full credit for efforts to reduce carbon emission as well as save the soil. He blamed the developed countries for high rate of carbon emission.

In his inimitable style, he said the government had taken up several measures to save the soil soon after coming to power. India's contribution to carbon emission levels was least he said, but it would have been better had he called for further reduction and explained how to do it.

The PM spoke at length on measures such as making soil chemical free, saving organisms that live in soil, maintaining soil moisture, increasing availability of water etc., but what is not clear is whether all this is at lab level or at ground level. There is an urgent need to increase the area under natural farming and make soil ready for this.

Modi claimed a huge campaign was launched to give soil health cards to the farmers in the country. He even took a dig at the media for ignoring this. He referred to water conservation campaigns launched in March this year to conserve 13 big rivers and reduce their pollution. He said there efforts were on to add a forest cover of 7,400 square km to the existing 20,000 sq km forest cover in the country. If Modi is to be believed, the numbers of tiger, lion, leopard and elephant are increasing in the country. He further spoke about PM National Gati Shakti Master Plan, logistics system and transport system that would lead to reduction of pollution. Multi-modal connectivity work on more than 100 waterways was also mentioned in this regard.

Well, while one certainly appreciates such significant steps to sustain the environment, what one needs to focus on is how successfully they are being implemented and their real impact. The Prime Minister's narrative is undoubtedly highly impressive and takes one into a dreamland. But Modi should ensure that he gets the real-time ground report on the achievements of the targets set before the administration. Officials are known to give such reports as the ruling party likes. These programmes certainly are required for the country, but they should not remain mere slogans or tall claims.