By IANS,
(Three years of UPA II: Not much to celebrate)
New Delhi : Achievements and failures of UPA-11 in the last three years since it was returned to power in May 2009:
Achievements
1. MNREGA 2.0: A reformed package of UPA’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme unveiled.
2. Public Procurement Bill, 2012: Legislation introduced in parliament to codify government procurements and maximise competition, aimed at transparency.
3. Relations with Pakistan: Dialogue process with Pakistan revived three years after Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.
4. Terrorism: Incidents few and far between.
5. Foodgrain production: India’s food grain production could touch a record 250 million tonnes.
Failures
1. 2G Spectrum scam: loss to government exchequer pegged at Rs.1.76 lakh crore ($36 billion). Former minister A. Raja arrested. So are five corporate honchos, first time ever.
2. CWG scam: Involves allegations of large-scale misappropriation of funds during 2010 Commonwealth Games estimated at Rs.70,000 crore ($18 billion).
3. Lokpal bill: Despite social activist Anna Hazare’s fasts and yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s protests, legislation yet to be passed by parliament.
4. National Counter Terrorism Centre: Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s brainchild find no favour from 11 state chief ministers, including UPA allies.
5. Indian Army chief’s age: General V.K. Singh sues his own government over his birth date row. Other controversies regarding his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on lack of defence preparedness, and reports of troops mobilistation towards Delhi do no good to government’s image.