<b>A K Bhattacharya:</b> Why Modi must keep the Opposition closer

Despite its impressive list of policy initiatives in the first year, the Modi government's performance has failed to make a positive impact because it underestimated the importance of managing the Opposition

The irony of it all is too obvious to be missed. The just-concluded Budget session of Parliament has scaled a new high as far as its productivity is concerned. According to the PRS Legislative Research, the Budget session of the Lok Sabha was the most productive in the last 15 years, as it worked for 123 per cent of its scheduled time. In other words, it worked much longer than the period it was expected to work for in the normal course. For the Rajya Sabha, too, it was one of its most productive sessions in the last 15 years as it worked for 101 per cent of its scheduled time.

And yet, higher productivity of Parliament has meant a more difficult time for the government. Yes, many legislative Bills were passed, but at the same time the government had to give ground to the Opposition on three crucial Bills. One Bill was for bringing about changes in the land acquisition and rehabilitation law. The other two Bills were aimed at reforming the realty sector with adequate regulation and amending the Constitution to introduce a country-wide goods and services tax (GST) regime. All the three Bills had to be referred to parliamentary committees for a review before these could be taken up for discussion and voting in the two Houses. The government is naturally upset as it would now have to struggle to meet its deadline of rolling out the new indirect taxes regime from April 2016, realty sector reforms will have to wait at least till the monsoon session of Parliament and the fate of the proposed amendments in the land law looks even more uncertain.

Inevitably, it is the government's performance in Parliament that has made a bigger noise and impact, thereby overshadowing the many policy initiatives that the government undertook in the last one year since its formation. Many of those initiatives do suffer from flaws or may not be able to achieve the desired results. But there is little doubt that the long list of policy initiatives of the Modi government in its first year looks impressive.

In the last one year, the government has promised fiscal correction, eased the foreign investment restrictions in insurance and defence, and made moves to relax labour laws. It has also made a serious attempt to tackle the problems associated with coal and telecom spectrum allocations, although there are doubts about the success and ultimate outcome of the new auction system put in place. Similarly, there may be many flaws in the government's recently announced financial inclusion measures. But nobody can deny the Modi government the credit for its drive in rolling out schemes like the opening of bank accounts for all households, insurance coverage for all and pension facility for bank account holders.

Then there is the commendable rollout of the direct benefits transfer scheme for disbursement of cooking gas subsidies, a major push to infrastructure with increased investment for the railways, for instance, and a new policy thrust for expeditious clearance of road projects. The initiatives to bring states on board for a GST regime have also brought the country closer to its first major indirect tax reform in the last two decades.

If in spite of this long list of economic policy initiatives, the performance of the Modi government in its first year has failed to make a positive impact, it is because the government completely underestimated the importance of managing the Opposition within Parliament and outside. The big mistake for the government was to lull itself into believing that its simple majority in the Lok Sabha will see it through as far as policy changes are concerned. The reality of the Bharatiya Janata Party's pathetically low numbers in the Rajya Sabha did not seem to dawn on anyone in the government. Various strategies were contemplated with little effect.

At the end of its first year, the government would be wise to recognise the need for engaging with the Opposition political parties, which are now a rejuvenated lot, asking more questions and forcing division of votes on all kinds of proposals in Parliament. In the coming months, the Opposition is likely to get more assertive. The government's challenge to get laws passed will get more difficult. Instead of complaining why the government is not getting credit for its performance, it would do well to focus on how it can take the Opposition on board on its legislative agenda.