Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways

Two-part survey by govt gives top ratings to reforms in railways, power and roads. Modi's pet schemes score poorly

The National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kicked off a two-part survey where the people will rate its policies and initiatives as it completes two years in office. Thousands have already joined in to answer the 30 questions covering anything from foreign policy to signature schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and Make In India, hosted on the citizen engagement platform mygov,in.

While Make in India, ease of doing business and controlling corruption figure somewhere in the middle of the ratings, other schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and unearthing black money have scored the least.

Initial data captured on the portal will make Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu happy. More than 74 per cent of the people who have participated in the survey so far have given 5 stars to the government effort in modernising Indian Railways, taking it to the top position out of a total of 15 schemes. Only 1.04 per cent of the people have given it 1 star. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is next with 65.8 per cent people giving 5 stars to government efforts in providing highway connectivity. It is the only sector where nobody has given it the lowest grade of 1.

The NDA's foreign policy has scored high as well with 63.21 per cent giving the initiative 5 stars. It got 1 star from 3.63 per cent of the respondents. The PM himself has mostly been at the forefront of the foreign policy initiatives, though Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is also seen having contributed to the overall effort.

Going by scores, Power Minister Piyush Goyal is in the fourth position with 56.99 per cent giving 5 stars to the government effort in providing 24X7 power to all. It got 1 star from 2.07 per cent.

Make In India, counted among Modi's pet projects, ranks fifth in terms of highest score -53.89 per cent gave it 5 stars and 1.55 per cent 1 star. Ease of doing business is a notch below with 49.74 per cent giving it 5 stars and 2.59 per cent giving it 1 star.

Less than half the people who took the survey, 48.97 per cent, believe controlling corruption should get 5 stars. As much as 6.19 per cent think the government effort in controlling corruption deserves only 1 star.

Helping self-employment through Startup India, predictability in taxation, and Skill India come even lower with just about 40 per cent giving these efforts 5 stars.

The least appreciated is the government effort to unearth black money with only 33.16 per cent of the people who participated giving it 5 stars. As much as 10.88 per cent, the largest chunk in this survey, have it 1 star.

From the bottom, Digital India is number two, Swachh Bharat three, and recasting Indian agriculture four. "Your responses will help the government in further improving these programmes, serving you better and making India great,'' mygov.in said while inviting people to rate the government.

The first 15 questions are about checking the people's awareness about NDA schemes. For instance, do you know that the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana gives collateral-free loans up to Rs 10 lakh to small business enterprises? Or, did you know that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana will provide LPG connections to 5 crore BPL families? You have to answer in ''yes'' or ''no''.

The other 15 questions are for rating schemes and plans on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.