Narendra Modi biography and full history (Early life to prime minister of India)

Narendra Modi - from Tea Vendor to India's Prime Minister ( biography )

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EARLY LIFE 

Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnaqar, Mehsana district (present-day Gujarat).

He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi (c, 1915 — 1989) and Hiraben Modi (born c 1920). 

As a child, Modi helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.

Modi completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as an average student and a keen debater, with interest in theatre.

When eight years old. Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions).

Engaged while still a child to Jashodaben, a girl from a family who lived close by, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated from high school, The resulting familial tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.

Modi spent the ensuing two years traveling across Nothern and North-eastern India-Vivekananda has been described as a large influence in Modi's life.

Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad. There, Modi lived with his uncle.

After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS working under Inamdar.ln 1978 Modi received a Bachelor of Ads degree in political science from the School of Open Learning at the University of Delhi.

POLITICAL CAREER 

PM Narendra Modi

In June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India that lasted until 1977. Modi was appointed general secretary of the "Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti. 

Shortly afterward, the RSS was banned, Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and frequently traveled in disguise to avoid arrest. 

Modi was also involved with creating a network of safe houses for individuals wanted by the government, and in raising funds for political refugees and activists. 

Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organizer) in 1978, overseeing RSS activities in the areas of Surat and Vadodara, and in 1979 he went to work for the RSS in Delhi. He returned to Gujarat a short while later and was assigned b the RSS to the BJP in 1985.

In 1987 Modi helped organize the BJP's campaign in the Ahmedabad municipal election, which the BJP won comfortably. 

After L E K. Advani became president of the BJP in 1986, the RSS decided to place its members in important positions within the BJP; Modi's work during the Ahmedabad election led to his selection for this role, and Modi was elected organizing secretary of the BJP's Gujarat unit later in 1987. 

Modi rose within the party and was named a member of the BJP's National Election Committee in 1990, helping organize L K. Advani's 1990 Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murti Manohar Joshi's 1991—92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity). 

Modi's electoral strategy was considered central to the BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections-ln November of that year Modi was elected BJP national secretary and transferred to New Delhi,

CHIEF MINISTER OF GUJARAT 

His strategy was credited as key to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 elections, and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organization) in May of that year. 

In 2001, Keshubhai Patel's health was failing and the BJP lost a few state assembly seats in by-elections. The BJP national leadership sought a new candidate for the chief ministership, and Modi, who had expressed misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement. 

On 3 October 2001, he replaced Patel as Chief Minister of Gujarat. with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the December 2002 elections. On 7 October 2001 Modi was administered the oath of office.

GUJARAT RIOTS 

On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers burned near Godhra, killing approximately 60 people. 

The next day, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called for a bandh across the state. Riots began during the bandh, and anti-Muslim violence spread through Gujarat. 

The Modi government imposed a curfew in 26 major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders and called for the army to patrol the streets, but was unable to prevent the violence from escalating. 

During the riots, police officers often did not intervene in situations where they were able- In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted by a lower court for participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots. On 21 April 2018, the Gujarat High Court acquitted Kodnani while noting that there were several shortfalls in the investigation.

Modi's personal involvement in the 2002 events has continued to be debated. In March 2008, the Supreme Court reopened several cases related to the 2002 riots and established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the issue. 

The SIT questioned Modi in March 2010; in May, it presented to the court a report finding no evidence against him.ln July 2011: the court-appointed Raiu Ramachandran submitted his final report to the court. 

Contrary to the SITS position, he said that Modi could be prosecuted based on the available evidence the Supreme Court gave the matter to the magistrate's court. The SIT examined Ramachandran's report, and in March 2012 submitted its final report, asking for the case to be closed. Zakia Jaffri filed a protest petition in response. In December 2013 the magistrate's court rejected the protest petition, accepting the SIT's finding that there was no evidence against the chief minister.

SECOND TERM 

In the aftermath of the violence, there were widespread calls for Modi to resign as chief minister from within and outside the state, including from leaders. 

Modi submitted his resignation at the April 2002 BJP national executive meeting in Goa, but it was not accepted. 

His cabinet had an emergency meeting on 19 July 2002, after which it offered its resignation to the Gujarat Governor S. S. Bhandari, and the state assembly was dissolved.

In the elections, the BJP won 127 seats in the 182- member assembly.

DEVELOPMENT 

Narendra Modi

The governments led by Patel and Modi supported NGOs and communities in the creation of groundwater-conservation projects. By December 2008, 500,000 structures had been built, of which 113,738 were check dams, which helped recharge the aquifers beneath them. 

Sixty of the 112 tehsils which had depleted the water table in 2004 had regained their normal groundwater levels by 2010. 

As a result. the state's production of genetically modified cotton increased to become the largest in India. The boom in cotton production and its semi-arid land use led to Gujarat's agricultural sector growing at an average rate of 9.6 percent from 2001 to 2007. 

The Modi government finished the process of bringing electricity to every village in Gujarat that its predecessor had almost completed.

DEBATE ON DEVELOPMENT

There has been a contentious debate surrounding the development of the state of Gujarat during Modi's tenure as chief minister. 

The GDP growth rate of Gujarat averaged 10% during Modi's tenure, a value above that of the country as a whole, and similar to other highly industrialized states.

Gujarat also had a high rate of economic growth in the 1990s, before Modi took office. Under Modi, Gujarat topped the World Bank's •ease of doing business" rankings among Indian states for two consecutive years. 

Despite its growth rate, Gujarat had a relatively poor record on human development, poverty relief, nutrition, and education during Modi's tenure.

In 2013, Gujarat ranked 13th in the country with respect to rates of poverty and 21st in education. Nearly 45 percent of children under five were underweight and 23 percent were undernourished, putting the state in the "alarming" category on the India State Hunger Index.

Over the decade from 2001 to 2011, Gujarat did not change its position relative to the rest of the country with respect to poverty and female literacy. 

With respect to the quality of education in government schools, the state ranked below most Indian states.ln 2013 the state ranked 10th of 21 Indian states in the Human Development India.

LOK SABHA ELECTIONS 

While campaigning for the 2012 assembly elections, Modi made extensive use of holograms and other technologies allowing him to reach a large number of people, something he would repeat in the 2014 general election.

The BJP won 115 of the 182 seats, continuing its majority during his tenure and allowing the party to form the government. 

In September 2013 Modi was named the BJP's candidate for prime minister in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. 

Modi played a dominant role in the BJP's election campaign. During the campaign, Modi focused on the corruption scandals under the previous INC government. and played on his imaqeGuiarat.Modi projected himself as a person who could bring about "development.- without a focus on any specific policies.

As a politician who had created a high rate of GDP growth in His message found support among young Indians and among middle- class citizens. 

Prior to the election, Modi's image in the media had centered around his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, but during the campaign, the BJP was able to shift this to a focus on Modi's neoliberal ideology and the Gujarat model of development.

Although the BJP avoided issues of Hindu nationalism to an extent, Hindutva remained a significant part of its campaign. 

The BJP won 31% of the vote and more than doubled its tall in the Lok Sabha to 282. becoming the first party to win a majority of seats on its own since 1984. Modi himself was a candidate for the Lok Sabha in two constituencies: Varanasi and Vadodara. He won in both constituencies

PRIME MINISTER 

Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

He became the first Prime Minister born after India's independence from the British Empire. His first cabinet consisted of 45 ministers, 25 fewer than the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

21 new ministers were added to the council of ministers in November 2014. During his premiership, India rose to the 77th rank from 142th in the 2018 Ease of Doing Business ranking by World Bank

ECONOMIC POLICIES 

Narendra Modi speech

The economic policies of Modi's government focused on privatization and the liberalization of the economy. 

Modi liberalized India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including in defense and the railways. 

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a constituent of the Sangh Parivar, stated that the underlying motivation of labor reforms favored corporations over laborers. 

In his first budget. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised to • gradually reduce the budgetary deficit from 4.1 percent to 3 percent over two years. and to divest from shares in public banks. 

Over Modi's first year in office. the Indian GDP grew at a rate of percent. making it the world's fastest-growing large economy,

The money spent on social programs declined from 14.6% of GDP during the Congress government to 12.6% during Modi's first year in office. 

Spending on health and family welfare declined by 15%. and on primary and secondary education by 16%. The budgetary allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. or "education for all" program. declined by 22%. 

in September 2014, Modi introduced the Make in India initiative to • encourage foreign companies to manufacture products in India, with the goal of turning the country into a global manufacturing hub.

Modi's government put in place the Goods and Services Tax, the biggest tax reform in the country since independence. It subsumed around 17 different taxes and became effective from 1 July 2017.

On 25 June 2015, Modi launched a program intended to develop 100 smart cities-ln June 2015, Modi launched the "Housing for All By 2022" project, which intends to eliminate slums in India by building about 20 million affordable homes for India's urban poor. 

On 9 November 2016, the government demonetized 500 and 1000 banknotes, with the stated intention of curbing corruption, black money, the use of counterfeit currency, and terrorism. 

Following Modi's announcement, the Indian stock indices BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 declined steeply. 

There has been a steep increase in digital payments and transactions in the country since the day demonetization was announced-Post the demonetization, the number of income tax returns filed for individuals rose by 25% indicating the widened tax net.

HEALTH AND SANITATION 

Modi government launched the New Health Policy (NHP) in January 2015. In its budget for the second year after it took office, the Modi government reduced healthcare spending by 15%. 

The healthcare budget for the following year rose by 19%. The budget was viewed positively by private insurance providers. 

Public health experts criticized its emphasis on the role of private healthcare providers and suggested that it represented a shift away from public health facilities healthcare budget rose by 11.596 in 2018. 

On 2 October 2014, Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("Clean India") campaign. The stated goals of the campaign included eliminating open defecation and manual scavenging.

Since the launch of the scheme sanitation cover in the country has increased from 38.7% in October 2014 to 84.1% in May 2018. But people are not using them due to various reasons. 

Ayushman Bharat Yojana was launched by Prime Minister on 23 September 2018, to provide health insurance to 500 million beneficiaries. More than a lakh people have taken benefit of the scheme till October 2018

HINDUTVA AND EDUCATION 

Several state governments headed by the BJP have enacted policies aligned with Hindutva after the election of Modi as Prime Minister. The government of Maharashtra banned the killing of cows in 2014. 

The government began formulating a New Education Policy, or NEP, soon after its election. As of March 2016, this policy had yet to be implemented. 

This was the third education policy introduced by the Indian government, following those of 1968 and 1986. The policy was described as having overtones of Hindutva. 

The policy emphasized the education of minority students, as well as those of economically backward groups, in particular on improving enrolment in schools among those groups.

FOREIGN POLICY

Modi invited all the other leaders of SAARC countries to his swearing-in ceremony as prime minister. 

Modi continued Manmohan Singh's policy of •multi- alignment. The Modi administration tried to attract foreign investment in the Indian economy from several sources, especially in East Asia, with the use of slogans such as 'Make in Indian and "Digital India". 

As a part of this policy, the Modi government completed India's application to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is led by China and Russia. (SCO). 

The government also tried to improve relations with Islamic nations in the Middle East. such as Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as well as with Israel.

One of Modi's first visits as prime minister was to Nepal, during which he promised a billion USD in aid. Modi also made several overtures to the United States, including multiple visits to that country.

Modi's administration gave renewed attention to India's "Look East Policy". instituted in 1991. The policy was renamed the "Act East Polic and involved direction Indian foreign policy towards East Asia and Southeast Asia. 


The government signed agreements to improve land connectivity with Myanmar, through the state of Manipur As of July 2016, Modi had made 51 trips to 42 countries with the intent of strengthening diplomatic relations