A most conspicuous and discernible positive change in the last five years of the Modi Government is the change in work culture and the way of doing things. Suddenly the entire governance mechanism, at least at the centre, seems to have shifted gears from a “talk” to “do” mode. And the good thing is that this culture seems to be seeping down the pyramid. It’s not uncommon now to find even corporators at the local government level getting more execution oriented.

For far too long status quo has been the norm. It was expected and sadly even accepted that that matters of governance and policy will move at a snails pace and execution would be of minimal priority. This was the entrenched culture. Projects would be announced, ribbons would be cut and foundation stones be laid with pomp and fanfare with an utter disregard to any thought of completion. This complete lack of accountability, delayed half done projects and dismal execution not just resulted in frustration and hopelessness amongst people but over the years even impacted macro-economic indicators making ours a laggard economy in spite of all the inherent dynamism of its people. Colluding economists even invented the derogatory term “Hindu Growth” rate to put an official stamp of approval on  the results of this work culture.

All that has thankfully changed in the last five years. The language and the manner of doing business has become target driven and accountability led. Narendra Modi who has led this initiative to change the paradigm of work culture has been helped in his cause by brilliant no non sense execution oriented ministers. Stellar amongst them being Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Suresh Prabhu, Late Manohar Parrikar, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Kiren Rijuju, J P Nadda and the likes. Perhaps the culture emanates from the ethos of a cadre based party with its roots in RSS where recognition is for work, delivery and effectiveness and not for lineage. The same culture can be seen even at the party organization level with Amit Shah and a slew of chief ministers like Devendra Fadnavis , Yogi Adityanath and others who talk delivery and effectiveness as a habit.

Age is another criteria that drives this paradigm shift. Mr Modi has selected a bunch at the central and state level largely in late forties and early fifties that has the right mix of energy driven by youth and experience driven by age.

The language of public discourse has changed. Even common folk want to speak in terms empirical and quantifiable indices. KM of roads laid per day, villages electrified per week, number of accounts opened, number of surgeries done under Ayushman Bharat etc. are common kerbside discussion drivers. Target vs achievement is the call. In that sense the government has become more business-like with Narendra Modi acting as its CEO with a perform or perish environment such that accountability, execution and delivery is paramount. And yes performance has been rewarded, classic case being of Piyush Goyal who has been given additional charge of several sectors while some have even perished in this high pressure pace set by the Prime Minister. While this changing paradigm of work culture can be felt all around the ground level change will take some time to be seen. Hope we are all patient enough.

Sometimes totally un connected areas are available for the government to showcase and exemplify  its ability in a modular format. The Kumbh Mela was one such opportunity and the government grabbed it with both hands to showcase to the world what their new work ethic can deliver. Over 30 Crore landed up in Prayagraj over fifty days and the organization that the government displayed was epic and top class. Infrastructure, roads, railways, security, cleanliness, logistics every area was handled professionally and to the best standards. If the Kumbh Mela organizing was any showcase of this paradigm shift then we as a country are sure in for great times in future with this new work culture.

Naysayers will always be there but they need to be discounted. As is there wont, the most common rant was to point out projects that were started by them many years earlier. But that precisely is the point. The project was never a priority. The concomitant grandstanding was and soon the foundation stone would be covered by weeds. There are innumerable such projects which had decayed even in the memory of people. This government brought a closure to many such incomplete ones as result of the changed work ethic. The list of such incomplete projects is endless. The Bogibeel Bridge in the East, The Chenani Nashri Tunnel in the North, The Kollam Bypass in South, The Ro-Ro Ferry Service in West are all examples of projects completed because of this execution oriented work ethic.

These slow moving projects and a status quo led work culture was not just blocking expensive public money but was also testing public patience resulting in all around hopelessness amongst the people about the potentiality of India.

That thankfully has changed now and is the biggest contribution of the Narendra Modi Government. Changing the paradigm of the Governments Work Culture