New Delhi: With Lok Sabha polls just months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has marked the official Government of India calendar for 2019 with important dates of his policy announcements. The soon-to-be-unveiled calendar has — for the first time — highlighted important dates and milestones related to policies and welfare measures announced by the BJP government in the past five years.
With farmers’ welfare high on the government’s mind — after the BJP’s recent wipe out in rural Assembly segments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh —January 13 is the first mention in calendar as the Modi government commemorates the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna.
The next mention is of Start Up India on January 16. Another farmer welfare measure highlighted in the calender is the Soil Health Card, marked on February 19. An important measure that affected the Armed Forces, One Rank One Pension, flaunted as one of the major acheivements of the Modi government, finds a mention on November 7. Other important dates highlighted in the calendar are Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sukanya Samridhi Yojna (January 22), Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Urban
Mission (February 21), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna (April 8), Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojna (May 1), Atal Pension Yojna (May 9), Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojna and Digital India (both July 1), Jan Dhan Yojna (August 28), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (October 2), Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna (October 28), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (November 20) and Bhim App (December 30).
Interestingly, there is no special mention of dates on which demonetisation and GST were rolled out.
Each page depicts scenes from the everyday life that have been touched by the government’s policies. January focuses on “Ensuring ease of living of all citizens” and lists the welfare measures of the Modi government which has directly impacted them.
A comparison with the Manmohan Singh government’s tenure is also offered with punch lines like “inflation fell from a double digit in 2010-14 to record low in the last four years”, “medicines made affordable through a nationwide network of 4,000 Jan Aushadhi stores” and “income tax exemption limit raised, tax rate reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for income between '2.5 lakh-'5 lakh”.
February depicts the initiatives taken by the Modi government for the farming sector, March for ensuring women empowerment, June for rise of India on the global stage and December for encouraging entrepreneurship in small businesses, other months also have examples of these policies on respective pages.
Each page also carries a quote from the Prime Minister along with his picture. Each page also carries a logo and message commemorating 150 years celebrating the Mahatma, marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
“Till now only gazetted and national holidays were marked on the annual calender,” sources said.
The calendar can also be downloaded from “government of India Calender App”.
Meanwhile, this year the Press Information Bureau is expected to finish the task of issuing accreditation cards to journalists ahead of schedule. Sources stated that the process is expected to begin this week and end by January 15.
