Former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Awardee Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last on 16 August, 2018 at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The former prime minister’s first tenure lasted 13 days, having sworn in on 16 May 1996. The veteran BJP leader was a three-time prime minister and his second stint came two years later when he assumed office for 13 months, from 19 March 1998 to April 1998. Vajpayee’s contribution to India’s history and politics came when he took oath for a third time as prime minister, when he led India from October 1999 to May 2004.
Here’s a look at his 10 most important contributions as prime minister.
Important road projects like the Golden Quadrilateral and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.In 2001, he launched Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan, a social cheme to provide universal access to free elemntary education for children aged 6-14.Vajpayee continued with spirit of economic reforms introduced under PV Narasimha Rao government of 1991.This was followed up with a 25 per cent stake in an oilfield in Sudan for USD 720 million.He helmed privitization as a major divestment steps were taken by the government between 1999-2004 were in Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), Hindustan Zinc, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, Maruti and VSNLThe Lahore Declaration was signed on 21 February 1999, between India and Pakistan. A day later, he arrived at the border in Delhi-Lahore bus.It was his government that made a diplomatic push to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the gigantic Sakhalin-I oil and gas fields in far east Russia for USD 1.7 billion in 2001. This was India’s single largest investment abroad.India improved its trade and reduced territorial disputes with the People’s Republic of China. He also invited former US President Bill Clinton in 2000, thus improving the bilateral ties after the Cold War.Vajpayee passed the Chandrayan-1 project. He made India a nuclear weapon state. In 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests in one week.He introduced the Fiscal Responsibility Act aimed at bringing fiscal discipline, reduce India’s fiscal deficit, and improve the country’s macroeconomic management. Fiscal Responsibility Act aimed to mitigate the country’s fiscal deficit in 2008 to 3% of the GDP, but the global financial crisis led to subsequent suspension of the target.
Vidhika D'Souza: To most people writing spells boredom but to the obsessively refined eye, writing unravels mysteries and lets mere mortals time-travel. This author boasts of being versatile and admonishes against any scope of doubt when someone questions her vocabulary. Paradoxical, satirical and ironically so, a Neo-Modernist but a Shakespearean novel waiting to happen, she trudges on her Sherlock Holmes defined path in the quest to find what the future beholds. Do not question her writing for the pen is her mighty sword and her words might injure you.