NDA was returned to power in 2014 with a huge majority by the electorate. It was after about 25 years of coalition era that the Indian voters preferred a single party rule though still bound by the coalition commitment. BJP itself was given a clear mandate to govern the country without any scope for it to blame the coalition compulsion for malgovernance or policy paralysis or corruption.
People were fed up with the perpetuating status quo, both political and economic. There was an environment of gloom, hopelessness and frustration all around in almost every section of the society – rich and poor, young and old, male and female. Politicians and the bureaucracy were perceived as law unto themselves in general.
Against this backdrop, the BJP under the leadership of Narendra Modi promised change in the life conditions of all these withdrawn and cynical sections specially the poor and the young. Modi promised that India could change with the engagement of the youth, the women, the kisan and the jawan together in rebuilding the nation. He said the main reason behind the gloom pervading all across the social fabric of India was the loss of self-confidence as a nation.
It was necessary to instill faith in the average citizen to assert, “Yes, India can do it”. 

Has the Modi government been able to deliver on its promises made to the electorate in the last three years? Has it been a period of rhetoric like in the past confined to sloganeering or it has succeeded to translate its dream of making new India into reality? An independent audit of the policies pursued by Modi government since its formation in 2014 would suggest that the path followed by Modi and his Council of Ministers has been one of change and development and the slogan’ sabka saath sabka vikas’ is at the core of its approach to governance.
It has delivered on its promise to provide corruption free, efficient, transparent and open governance. Digital India would ensure a more smart government. Leaving aside the ideologically driven contentious political debates as well as the formulation and implementation of a number of social security policies and programmes for the sake of space constraints, I propose to focus on two very significant deviations of the Modi government from the past governance practices pertaining to the issues of development and social and economic change. The second deviation relates to the change or mould of political culture of the country.
There is no denying the fact that the poor has been at the centre of the political and economic debate right since Independence and particularly since the mid-sixties. Plans, policies and programmes were enacted by successive governments at the Centre as well as the state to help the poor. This can be seen from the rural and urban development and poverty alleviation schemes. The approach was not only supply driven, but also welfarist or charity like initiatives. Some of them were in the nature of distress relief to the poor.
Special component plan and tribal sub plan were formulated to improve the socio-economic and political conditions of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes of India; legal and policy initiatives were also taken to promote and protect the interests of women, the old, the children, the minorities etc. While these sections were able to be politically more conscious and engaged, a large majority of them remained at the periphery of the economy, remaining mostly under the grip of poverty, unemployment, exploitation and discrimination even after seventy years of independence.
The state became a tool of dispensing assistance occasionally to them in the form of loan waivers, pensions and other social security measures. The relationship between the state and the poor was that of dependency or that of a patron-client model. The politics of populism and rhetoric became a permanent feature of state and political behavior.
Every election saw some promised subsidies, or monetary relief for future to the deprived sections or a demand for a vote in exchange for the help or subsidy rendered to them in the past like distribution of or a promise to distribute free lap tops, free cycles, free water, free uniforms and food, freedom from taxes etc. They were voted to power also. It was enough for the poor to vote for the party or not to vote in the elections. The poor were not really subjected to realisation of their best potential to stand on their own. The welfare schemes were mainly used as the tools of corruption and or serve political interests of the powers that be. The result was that the poor remained dependent to a large extent on the will and capacity of the state to benefit him.
The Modi  government adopted a dual approach to the development of the poor; one to continue the welfare approach to poor and the deprived and second to empower them to stand on their own so that in the long run they are able to earn as much as is necessary for them to support themselves economically and are able to lead a life of dignity, the Jan dhan Yojna, the Mudra Bank yojana, the Skill India and stand up India etc. are well thought-out schemes to enable the poor to acquire capabilities and capacities to earn atleast as much as they require to meet their necessities without depending on the state for ever.
Second most important achievement of the government led by Modi is the change in the arena of political culture. He has been trying from the day one after assuming power that India should come out of the shackles of parochial politics and political culture based on and guided by caste, class, region, religion, community etc. He believes that new India can be shaped only if her people assess the governments and the political parties on the basis of performance and if they become cognitive in their political behavior. The elections in the states of UP, Uttrakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur and Delhi are a pointer in the direction of that success of the government. These changes will bring a long term impact on the quality of government and governance.