PM turns 75: Milestones that define the Modi years

As PM Narendra Modi turns 75 today, TOI takes a look at the raft of policy interventions undertaken during his 11 years at the Centre. Most of the reforms have been people-centric to promote “ease of living” — from making Aadhaar all important and laying the foundation of Digital Public Infrastructure to reshaping economic and political frameworks. His three terms have also seen momentous political shifts such as the abrogation of Article 370, the merging of indirect taxes into GST, and the introduction of new criminal and tax codes

Modi’s Politics
By 2014, coalition politics appeared the norm. Modi broke that trend, leading BJP to a majority in a contest that became a referendum on him. He was the first to do so since Indira Gandhi in 1980 (Congress’s win in 1984 was not because of Rajiv Gandhi, but a sympathy wave). An encore followed in 2019. His third term, even without a full majority, looks remarkable considering the global trend of incumbents struggling post-Covid.

More than just numbers, Modi’s influence lies in reshaping the political landscape. He gave unprecedented legitimacy and geographic spread to Hindutva, framed politics as “seva”, and pushed an all-consuming mission-driven governance model. Even opponents acknowledge, often with alarm, his transformative impact. His constant pursuit of goals has forced rivals to recalibrate. India is in a very different place than it was in the pre-NaMo days, and reversing the changes wholesale is unlikely, if at all.




Article 370

The abrogation of Article 370, ending J&K’s special status, fulfilled a decades-old BJP objective. The stealthy, bold strategy surprised many and was a masterclass in political manoeuvring — especially in pushing it through Rajya Sabha without clear numbers. In the process, Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah demolished several assumptions: the indispensability of separatist Hurriyat, fear of stone-wielding mobs that controlled the streets in the Valley, the compulsion to have dialogue with the backers of terrorists, and a hostile global response which had guided the handling of the Kashmir question by preceding regimes.

The post-abrogation management was crucial: elections widely seen as fair, a drop in terrorism and local recruitment, and rising tourism and infrastructure. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections in J&K, conducted after a long gap, had a turnout of 58.6%, the highest in decades. Despite the Pahalgam terror attack, overall violence indicators have declined. The promise of restoring statehood remains unfulfilled, but there’s visible public support for the developmental dividend.

Operation Sindoor

Though the lustre of its achievement was dulled somewhat by the noise over “ kitne Rafales gire ?”, Operation Sindoor was PM Narendra Modi’s response to the massacre of tourists at Pahalgam by fanatical fundamentalists. It marked India’s entry into ‘new-age warfare’ and signalled readiness for the risks and challenges such warfare entails.

There is now near-consensus that the military response to Pakistan’s perfidy was a resounding success. International experts were the first to applaud, and even sceptical domestic commentators have largely come around. The no-contact war, enabled by precise intelligence and marked by jointness across services, scored major hits: terror HQs were razed, Pakistan’s air defence was crippled, and key airfields were taken out — leaving the hostile neighbour exposed to Indian jets. In contrast, Indian air defences held firm.

But the operation’s significance runs deeper. It built on the surgical strikes and Balakot air raids to call out Pakistan’s nuclear bluff. It asserted India’s readiness to act under a nuclear overhang, ignoring the panic buttons often pushed in Western capitals. In short, a ruthless assertion of strategic autonomy. It also prepared Indians to accept the cost of future high-stakes action.

Covid Vaccination

India’s Covid vaccine strategy centred on domestic manufacturing. Covaxin and Covishield were rolled out rapidly, with Modi pushing for development and trust-building.

Over 220 crore doses were administered by Jan 2023. Around 97% of eligible adults got at least one dose, 90% both — among the world’s best vaccination coverage. Rural penetration was especially impressive. The CoWIN platform helped schedule and verify millions of doses daily.



GST & Tax Reforms

A critic of the model floated by UPA, Modi embraced the Goods and Services Tax and drove its rollout in July 2017, subsuming 17 state and central levies. A unique federal body, the GST Council, now decides indirect tax rates. It marked the creation of a true “one nation, one tax” system.

The tax base has more than doubled to over 1.5 crore. Cascading effect of taxes is gone, and rates have been streamlined. The GST Council slashed rates on 375 items and reduced slabs to three — 5%, 18% and 40%. Corporate and personal income tax have shifted to easier, exemption-free regimes, incentivising formalisation. A simplified Income Tax Act is due in April 2026.

Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code

IBC, long in the works, was passed under Modi and gave banks a powerful tool to recover bad loans. Around 1,200 major cases (worth Rs 12 lakh crore) were settled directly under IBC, and 30,000 more (worth Rs 14,000 crore) due to creditors invoking it.
Gross NPAs dropped from over 9% in 2021 to 2.6% in 2025. Beyond numbers, IBC shifted borrower behaviour: firms now fear losing control, making them more likely to settle dues early. Bank mergers and IDBI’s planned privatisation are part of the banking sector revamp. The sector now appears more resilient.

Aadhaar

Launched in 2009, Aadhaar scaled dramatically under Modi and became central to India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Over 1.4 billion IDs cover over 95% of the population. It has helped transform the digital landscape from payments to healthcare and financial inclusion.

Combined with Jan Dhan accounts and mobile phones (JAM trinity), Aadhaar enabled seamless benefits, identity-based services, and massive savings. It underpins everything from LPG subsidies and UPI payments to DigiLocker, vaccination platforms like CoWIN, and more. DPI now defines India’s digital transformation and inspires replication in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.



Jan Dhan & Social Security

Modi’s 2014 Jan Dhan Yojana aimed to open bank accounts for all. Within five months, 12.5 crore accounts were opened. Today, over 56 crore accounts hold Rs 2.6 lakh crore.

These accounts enabled targeted benefits, reduced leakage, and powered Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs). During Covid, Jan Dhan served as the backbone for mass financial aid. They now support schemes like PM SVANidhi (for street vendors) and PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (insurance), and allow street vendors and daily wagers to operate digitally. It has helped expand UPI too because vegetable sellers, barbers and auto drivers now rely on digital payments, reducing the need for cash transactions in the economy.

UPI (Unified Payment Interface)

The world’s largest real-time payment system, UPI, crossed 20 billion monthly transactions in Aug. While the scale-up of the platform was extremely rapid, the support system for UPI was first laid with the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in 2014 which was alongside the aggressive rollout of Aadhaar. These two developments coupled with the extensive rollout of mobile telephone put in place the JAM (Jan Dhan Aadhaar and Mobile) trinity which provided the framework for the rollout of UPI. While NPCI built the platform, its adoption surged post-demonetisation in 2016. Modi promoted it directly, launched the BHIM app, and linked it to a digital India push.

JAM groundwork, QR familiarity via wallets, and pandemic restrictions enabled UPI’s explosive growth. From large retailers to vegetable vendors, digital payments are now universal.

Food Security

The PM Garib Kalyan Yojana transformed food subsidy into the world’s largest free foodgrain scheme. Over 80 crore people now get 5 kg rice/ wheat per month free.

Though the food security scheme to provide 5 kg foodgrain at a very subsidised price was rolled out during the fag end of UPA-II, it was fully implemented after 2014. The real impact of the scheme having a wide network of over 5 lakh ration shops was felt during the Covid pandemic when the government offered 5 kg extra wheat and rice to beneficiaries free of cost in addition to the same quantity they were receiving by paying Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg, respectively.

Ayushman Bharat

Providing health insurance in a country with a billion-plus population, a federal polity and challenges of underdevelopment and corruption was a leap of faith. Modi government launched Ayushman Bharat in Sept 2018, the world’s largest free healthcare insurance scheme, providing a coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family annually, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Initially for the poor, it now covers all citizens aged 70+.

So far, 42 crore people are enrolled, and 9.5 crore hospitalisations have been covered across nearly 33,000 empanelled hospitals. A Lancet study showed timely cancer care improved by 36% under the scheme. The savings on catastrophic health expenditure, especially in rural households, have been significant.

Started during Covid, PMGKAY was implemented in seven phases and for 28 months, recording a distribution of around 1,015 lakh tonnes of free foodgrain across the country. Subsequently, the government decided to provide free foodgrain from Jan 2024 to Dec 2029, a guarantee for five years.

Besides Aadhaar-linking of beneficiaries and use of electronic point of sale (PoS) machines for foodgrain sale at ration shops, the introduction.



Highways

An over two-and-a-half fold increase in pace of construction and expansion of national highways, and jump in the number of high-speed corridors, including expressways, have been the hallmark of infrastructure push over the past 11 years.
Since 2018-19, annual highway expansion and construction has been over 10,000km and peaked in 2020-21 at 13,327km or 37km per day.

The length of high-speed corridors (HSC) has increased from only 93km in 2014 to nearly 5,000km now. Most of these have been built during the last six years. Similarly, the length of NHs that are of four lanes or more, excluding HSCs, has increased by 2.5 times from 18,278km in 2014 to over 46,000km. Capital expenditure on NHs has significantly increased from about Rs 51,000 crore in 2013-14 to nearly Rs 3 lakh crore now.

The introduction of mandatory FASTag in vehicles for payment of toll charges across the NH network in 2021 along with accelerated highway development has improved the ease of movement and checked leakage of toll revenue. With over 98% of toll payment transactions made through FASTag the average waiting time at toll booths has reduced by up to 93% — from earlier 714 seconds to 47 seconds.

However, upkeep and safety on these expressways is an emerging concern. Yogesh Chawda of ‘One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)’ expanded the benefit to all, including a large share of migrant workers who come to cities for employment. This provision has ensured that no beneficiaries are deprived of their entitlement even if they shift to another state or city for work.

Jal Jeevan Mission

Launched in 2019 to provide tap water to all rural homes, Jal Jeevan Mission has covered 15.7 crore out of 19.3 crore households (81%). At launch, only 3.2 crore homes had connections.

Eleven states/UTs now report 100% coverage. Kerala, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Rajasthan remain laggards. The deadline has been extended to 2028 due to Covid and cost overruns. But in many states, JJM has dramatically reduced drudgery for women who earlier walked kilometres for water.

PM Awas Yojana

Housing for the poor in both rural and urban areas has been on the agenda of all successive governments, but it received a significant push with the launch of the PM Awas Yojana (PMAY) during 2015 and 2016 under the umbrella programme of ‘Housing for All’. Besides financial assistance for building and buying houses, the major focus was on the empowerment of women. Data shows that women are either sole or joint owners of over 70% of such houses.

So far, 3.9 crore pucca houses have been sanctioned in rural areas, out of which 2.9 crore have been completed. In the case of urban areas, nearly 1.2 crore houses have been sanctioned, and 94 lakh of these have been completed.

Though the government had set the target for achieving ‘Housing for All’ by 2022, the scheme was extended and expanded, considering the increase in the number of eligible families seeking pucca houses in both rural and urban areas. Last year, the government approved a plan to provide financial assistance for building 2 crore more houses in rural areas and 1 crore in urban areas by 2029. The extended scheme, involving an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore, with the Centre contributing Rs 2.2 lakh crore, also has huge potential to boost economic activity.

To meet the growing demand for affordable rental housing for people migrating to cities for jobs, the urban segment of PMAY also provides financial assistance to private developers building residential complexes for this purpose. At a later stage, individuals will be able to book affordable rental houses before relocating to a city. For this, the government has set up an IT interface where the availability of such accommodations will be visible to potential customers, who will also be able to book them online.

Swachh Bharat

Launched on Oct 2, 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) has been a landmark initiative aimed not only at achieving universal sanitation coverage and making India Open Defecation Free (ODF), but also at being one of the largest interventions to bring about behavioural change. With its two verticals — SBM-Gramin for rural areas and SBM-Urban for cities and towns — the mission made its biggest achievement in Oct 2019, with all villages and towns declared ODF, a milestone that especially focused on restoring the dignity of women.



So far, more than 12 crore household and public toilets have been built across the country with government assistance. Taking sanitation to the next level under Phase II, the focus has shifted to helping villages not only maintain their ODF status but also achieve ODF Plus status by implementing systems for solid waste management and liquid Waste Management, along with ensuring visible cleanliness — minimal litter and no stagnant wastewater.

Data shows that out of 5.9 lakh villages, 4.8 lakh have declared themselves ODF Plus, and verification has been conducted in 81% of these villages. With increased focus and public participation, 5.2 lakh villages have some form of solid waste management, while 5.36 lakh villages have systems in place to manage liquid waste.

PM Surya Ghar

Launched in Feb 2024, the world’s largest domestic rooftop solar initiative has already started transforming India’s energy landscape by connecting nearly 20 lakh homes with installation of rooftop solar panels to provide free electricity. It aims to reach 40 lakh households by March 2026.

Since the scheme offers a subsidy of up to 40% to households, it makes renewable energy more affordable and accessible. Easy financing options, including collateral-free loans up to Rs 2 lakh at a 6.75% subsidised interest rate through 12 PSU banks, has already accelerated its adoption.

Once a goal of connecting one crore households is achieved, the scheme is expected to save the government Rs 75,000 crore annually in electricity costs. As spin-offs, the transformative initiative will not only encourage millions of people to adopt clean energy but also reinforce India’s commitment to renewable energy in sync with the country’s long-term climate action goals. India has already crossed 251.5 GW (more than 50%) of non-fossil capacity of electricity.

Ujjwala

From the initial target of five core connections to provide free LPG connections to women of BPL households the number of beneficiaries has more than doubled under the PM Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY), signalling the impact of this government initiative, which has been a key vote-catcher as well.

As of June 2025, PMUY scheme has covered little over 10.3 crore beneficiaries out of the total 33 crore active LPG customers in the domestic category in the country. To bring more needy women into this clean cooking fuel net, under Ujjwala 2.0, a special provision was made for migrant families, allowing them to avail a new LPG connection through a self-declaration instead of requiring proof of address and ration card.

The shift from biomass to LPG improved air quality and freed up women’s time. WHO studies show household air pollution has declined significantly in rural India.