New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completed his first 10 days in office. With a massive majority in the Lok Sabha and the BJP on its own securing majority in the 545-member Lower House of Parliament, Modi has got the mandate to rule for a term of five years and he can't be judged in just 10 days.
However, the Modi administration has seen a very eventful 10 days. Holding bilateral talks with the heads of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe black money, announcing a 10-point agenda are some of the highlights of his first 10 days in office.
He has also ensured that his ministers and MP don't employ their relatives and close one as personal staff. The Union Cabinet also decided to raise foreign direct investment in defence to 100 per cent while Modi scrapped all Empowered Groups of Ministers and Group of Ministers to ensure fast decisions.
There were also some controversies after Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh claimed that the process to revoke Article 370 which guarantees special status to Jammu & Kashmir has begun. The educational qualifications of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who is not a graduate, also generated a lot of heat.
Here's a list of some of the main events in the last 10 days.
May 26: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes oath as the 15 Prime Minister of India. A 45-member Cabinet also takes oath with him. For the first time, all SAARC nation heads except Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attend the swearing-in ceremony. The inclusion of party lightweights like Smriti Irani, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Seetharaman, Piyush Goel and a few others surprised many within and outside the BJP while stalwarts like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were kept out.
The official announcement of the portfolios of newly sworn in ministers takes time. Both the people and media keep guessing.
May 27: The official announcement of portfolios out by 9 o'clock in the morning. The new faces get key ministries. PM Modi holds his government's first bilateral talks with all SAARC heads of state.
His bilateral with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa were very important. According to insiders Modi talks tough and means business.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh creates a controversy by informing the media that the process to revoke Article 370 which guarantees special status to Jammu & Kashmir has begun. He later retracts. Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah joins the issue.
Modi holds is first Cabinet meeting on May 27.
The government notifies the SIT on May 27 after the Supreme Court had granted it one week to constitute the high-profile team comprising top bosses of the country's premier investigation, enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Minorities Affairs Minister Dr. Najma Heftullah also creates one more minor controversy saying that the Muslims are too many to be called minorities and it is Parsis, who are real minorities.
PM Modi names former chief of TRAI Nripendra Mishra as his Principle Secretary.
May 28: PM Modi instructs all his ministers not to have their relatives as personal staff and asks them to get on to Twitter and Facebook. Tells them to reach out and invite new ideas.
Discrepancies in Human Resources Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani's affidavit on her educational qualifications lead to a big controversy. But, the PMO maintains silence.
May 29: PM Modi comes out with his ambitious 10-point agenda
1. Build up confidence in bureaucracy so they do not fear to face the consequences.
2. Innovative ideas welcome and babus will be given freedom to work.
3. Education, health, water, energy and roads will be priority.
4. Transparency will be in government. E-auction will be promoted in tendering and other government work.
5. A system will be placed for inter-ministerial issues to ensure better inter-ministerial co-ordination.
6. A people-oriented system will be in place and government machinery will be geared up to fulfil the mandate.
7. Addressing concerns relating to economy.
8. Infrastructural and investment reforms.
9. Implementation of policies in a time-bound manner.
10. Stability and sustainability in government policy.
The Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang rings up PM Modi and offers a robust relationship with India.
May 30: PM Modi tweets disapproving three BJP ruled states including his life as a chapter in school text books. Modi tweets that he is not in favour of chapters on any living leader.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls up Modi invites him to Japan.
May 31: Modi scraps Group of Ministers (GoMs) and Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoMs) which restores the supremacy of the Prime Minister's office and Cabinet Secretary.
He orders the ministers to hasten policy making.
June 1: A few hours before India's 29th state Telangana is born Modi tweets - India gets a new state! We welcome Telangana as our 29th state. Telangana will add strength to our development journey in the coming years.
June 2: Modi meets his Cabinet on June 2, discusses the first session of the Lok Sabha. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik meets him with a delegation. Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy also meets him. He also meets secretaries to government of India.
June 3: The newly elected government suffers a major setback. Union Rural Development Minister and BJP's face in Maharashtra Gopinath Munde dies in a road accident. No business takes place due to mourning. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa meets Modi, offers issue based support to him in the Rajya Sabha.
June 4: The 16th Lok Sabha meets. House adjourned after paying tributes to Gopinath Munde. Before the session the PM makes a statement before the media.
"The people of India have voted in unprecedented numbers, blessed their representatives and elected the sixteenth Lok Sabha. Today is its first day. I assure the people of this country that in this temple of democracy, every effort will be made to meet the hopes and aspirations of the common man of India. My best wishes to fellow Indians," said Modi.
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