In the eighth months that it has been in power, the Narendra Modi led NDA government has scrapped and rechristened about a dozen schemes launched by the previous UPA government, majority of which were named after the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The latest in the list is the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission that the government plans to rename Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Recently the Planning Commission was scrapped and replaced by a new body called National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Ayog.
While BJP leaders have refuted charges that they are not trying to appropriate UPA’s legacy by scrapping old schemes and naming them after leaders who were left out from government schemes and programmes during the UPA era, the government’s action tell a different story.
The existing housing scheme for urban poor, Rajiv Awas Yojana — named after former PM Rajiv Gandhi — was renamed after freedom fighter Sardar Patel.
To mark the 98th anniversary of Bhartiya Jan Sangh founder Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the NDA government re-launched the National Urban Livelihood Mission as the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Urban Livelihood Mission.
Another key UPA era scheme that was scrapped was the Provision for Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. The new version of the scheme is called the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Urban Mission. The rural development ministry’s Indira Awas Yojana has also been changed to National Gramin Mission. The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was renamed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan after Modi in his maiden Independence day speech called for a clean India by 2019.
{{/usCountry}}Another key UPA era scheme that was scrapped was the Provision for Urban Amenities in Rural Areas. The new version of the scheme is called the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Urban Mission. The rural development ministry’s Indira Awas Yojana has also been changed to National Gramin Mission. The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was renamed Swachh Bharat Abhiyan after Modi in his maiden Independence day speech called for a clean India by 2019.
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