The government has in the past six years initiated ambitious projects that can take India’s development to the next level in various spheres of life. Most of all, the projects have the potential to transform the lives of the poor and the young. Here are six such projects  

Fight for corruption-free India

Right to Information
The spark that flickered in villages two decades ago has spread like a wildfire across the country today, ushering in an era of transparency and accountability. The revolution reached its crescendo parliament passed the Right to Information (RTI) Act when six years ago.
Often termed the biggest gift to Indians since Independence, the RTI Act transformed millions of people from merely being tax payers to true rulers of the country. The law opened the close doors, behind which government authorities worked, as people realised they could question the government's decisions.
Raising slogans like 'Hamara Paisa, Hamara Hisab' (Our money, our accounts), people started demanding accountability on the part of the government.
Words like 'transparency and accountability' touched nation's chord and the people's demand also forced our ministers, government officials and judges of the Supreme Court to declare their assets.
The fight for an independent and strong Lokpal, which has currently grabbed the country's attention, is only an extension of the transparency revolution that started with the RTI Act.  

 

Educating India's future

Right to Education
Padhega India tho badhega India (India can only grow if it is educated)! With this catchy slogan, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) was passed by Parliament in August 2009. The aim is to encourage more children between the ages of 6 and 14 to go to school.
According to reports, at least 1.1 crore out of the 22 crore such children in this age group are out of school. But with education being made a fundamental right of children now, every child can go to school uninterrupted till class VIII.
No school can deny admission to children, particularly to the underprivileged ones. Not can any school suspend or rusticate them. Corporal punishment has been banned. Parents have a better say in their child's education and have a right to monitor functioning of schools and teaching.

A job for all

NREGA
Politicians' old habit of promising jobs before elections and later forgetting them changed six years ago when the National Rural Employment guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted — making the government legally accountable for providing employment to those who demand it.
The law guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to any rural household whose adult members are ready to do unskilled manual work.
The main purpose of the Act has been to provide employment to the vulnerable groups. Last year alone over 5.5 crore rural households were provided employment through NREGA — now renamed Mahatma Gandhi NREGA (MGNREGA).
Several studies have showed the domino effect the NREGA has had among rural masses. It has led to social and economic empowerment of people and encouraged women to come out and work. There have been instances of corruption in works awarded under the NREGA. But that can be plugged if authorities desires to, experts say.

Exploring the Moon

Chandrayaan-1
Can human beings live on the Moon? The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is looking for an answer to this through its Moon mission. In 2008, Isro successfully launched India's maiden unmanned Moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, which helped the country join an elite league of nations that have explored the Moon.
Chandrayaan-1 detected water on the Moon and discovered large caves below the lunar surface and a tunnel near the lunar equator assumed to be an empty volcanic tube. Scientists said this could be a potential site for human settlement.
In its 10-month orbit around the Moon, Chandrayaan also detected titanium and confirmed presence of calcium on the lunar surface.
Under its Chandrayaan II project, India plans to land a motorised rover on the Moon in 2013. The rover will be designed to move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples from Moon's surface, conduct chemical analysis and send the data to the mother-spacecraft Chandrayaan II, which will be orbiting above.

Boost to business

Mumbai-Delhi corridor
The 1,483km Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC) is slated to change the way logistics is approached in the country. A cluster of manufacturing industries will come on both sides of the freight corridor of the Indian railways, leading to quick movement of goods produced. The project entails an investment of over $90 billion.
A band of 150 km to 200 km has been chosen on the sides of the freight corridor to be developed as DMIC. The influence region of the DMIC includes parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The three principal goals of the project are doubling employment potential in seven years, tripling industrial output in nine years, quadrupling exports from the region in eight to nine years.
Going forward, the government has identified seven regions to be developed as invested regions as part of the projects. The region would be a specifically delineated industrial region with a minimum area of over 200 sqkm (20,000 hectares).
Besides, six industrial areas — developed with a minimum area of over 100 square kilometres (10,000 hectares) — will also come up in the first phase of the development.

One number solution

Unique ID
In future people will be known more by their ID numbers than their names. The Unique Identification (UID) number — later named as Aadhaar number — is an initiative by the government to create a unique identity number for every Indian resident.
It is one of the major projects that will bring a drastic change to the nation as a whole.
The UID number will obviate the need for a person to produce multiple documentary proofs of his identity for availing of government services or private services like opening a bank account. It will also help in better execution of several government works, such as identifying people for development schemes, taxation and licensing (regulatory works) and security.
Backed by intensive use of technology, it would greatly facilitate easy verification of a person's identity and enable a single communication to trigger address changes in all relevant agencies records.
The project is being executed by the unique identification authority of India, headed by Nandan Nilekani.