As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 76, India is approaching another significant milestone. On 7 October 2026, he will complete 25 uninterrupted years in public office - first as Chief Minister of Gujarat and then as Prime Minister since 2014.This marks not merely a record of a leader’s long tenure, but an opportunity to understand a governance vision that has transformed the meaning of government schemes—shifting the focus from mere announcements to ensuring actual delivery to the last-mile beneficiary.The core philosophy driving these 25 years has been clear: development is truly meaningful only when its impact is visible in the lives of those standing at the very end of the social spectrum. Consequently, rather than confining ‘good governance’ to paperwork or bureaucratic procedures, it has been linked to convenience, dignity, and opportunity in everyday life.A defining feature of PM Modi’s this journey in public life has been the construction of governing capacity at a scale India had rarely attempted before. Its big story is not merely the number of new schemes launched, rather it’s much changed relationship between the citizen and the government.

From bank accounts to household water taps, from smoke-free kitchens to medical treatment in hospitals, and from digital payments to Direct Benefit Transfers (BDT)—this very vision has redefined the relationship between the government and the citizen.The JAM Trinity — a bank account under Jan Dhan Yojana, a digital identity with Aadhaar and Mobile connection has created the foundations for a robust framework that has redefined how welfare benefits are delivered through DBT, moving technology from the margins of administration to its core.This massive shift can be understood through four ideas: scale, technology, last-mile delivery and dignity. Each of these four are unique ideas jointly form the architecture of the PM Modi’s governance model.Consider financial inclusion. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has brought 59.21 crore beneficiaries into the banking system, with deposits exceeding Rs 3.17 lakh crore as of early September 2026. Its larger significance of the game-changing scheme lies beyond the number of accounts. Combined with Aadhaar, mobile connectivity and Direct Benefit Transfer, it has given the government an unprecedented ability to transfer public benefits directly to the beneficiaries and with greater transparency.As over 55% of all Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana accounts are held by women, each of these bank account opened in a woman’s own name is today not simply a financial instrument but a measure of autonomy, security and participation in the formal economy which remained beyond the reach of a large section of population for decades since Independence.

The same governing logic is visible in India’s digital public infrastructure. In 2024-25, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed more than 18,500 crore transactions. Beyond any doubt, UPI, DigiLocker and other digital platforms have reduced friction in everyday life and made public services easier to access. With this, India did not merely digitise existing processes; it created interoperable public rails on which governments, banks and private innovators could build. This is one reason India’s digital transformation is being studied internationally: it has shown that technology can operate as public infrastructure rather than as an exclusive privilege.Yet governance is ultimately judged not on a dashboard but in the positive change in the daily life of a citizen. Swachh Bharat brought sanitation and behavioural change into the centre of public policy. Ujjwala Scheme extended clean cooking connections to more than 10.5 crore households, addressing a health burden borne disproportionately by women. The Jal Jeevan Mission has taken rural household tap-water connections from 3.23 crore at its launch to more than 15.8 crore by September 2026. Ayushman Bharat has created nearly 44 crore cards and authorised more than 12 crore hospital admissions by May 2026. These figures matter because each represents a household spared an indignity, a risk or an avoidable loss of time and income.A serious assessment, however, must go beyond celebrating coverage. A tap connection must provide potable water. A health card must translate into timely, good-quality treatment. A gas connection must be supported by affordable and sustained refills. A bank account must lead to savings, credit and economic mobility. The next phase of governance must therefore move from access to quality, from enrolment to outcomes and from welfare delivery to durable capability. Recognising unfinished work does not diminish the achievement; it is how a mature democracy protects and deepens it.

The transformation of India’s infrastructure over the past 12 years must also be viewed in the same way. Highways, railway modernisation, dedicated freight corridors, airports, metros and logistics networks are not monuments to expenditure. Their real value lies in reducing the distance between a farmer and a market, a small enterprise and a customer, a student and an opportunity. Infrastructure becomes transformative only when it raises productivity, attracts investment and creates broad-based employment. In the coming decade, projects will be measured not only by kilometres completed, but by the economic activity and social mobility they generate.This is also where the idea of Viksit Bharat 2047 acquires substance. A developed India cannot be built by the Union government alone, nor can it be reduced to a headline growth rate. It requires states, cities, panchats, universities, industry and civil society to work within a common national direction. It demands better schools and learning outcomes, employable skills, healthier citizens, competitive manufacturing, resilient agriculture, water security and institutions capable of earning public trust. The government must remain strong enough to reach the vulnerable, yet agile enough to enable enterprise and innovation.

Punjab should see this national transition not as a distant project, but as an opportunity to redefine its own development model. The state that once secured India’s food sovereignty can now help build its food economy. The next leap must take Punjab from volume to value: from crop production to food processing, nutrition, branding, cold chains and global agricultural exports. Crop diversification will become credible only when farmers are connected to assured markets, modern technology and remunerative value chains, while water conservation becomes an economic priority rather than merely an environmental appeal.Punjab’s location, entrepreneurial culture, educational institutions and global diaspora give it advantages few states possess. A coordinated strategy can make it a hub for agro-technology, precision engineering, sports goods, renewable energy, logistics, healthcare and new-age services. Universities must be judged not only by degrees awarded by them, but by research translated into enterprise and by young people equipped for the jobs of tomorrow. The diaspora should be engaged not only through sentiment, but through transparent platforms for investment, knowledge and market access. Most importantly, the fight against drugs must be made a positive economic mission that restores purpose, skills and opportunity to the state’s youth.

For Punjab, as for India, the central question is no longer whether government can announce an ambitious programme. The experience of the past quarter century shows that India can build systems, mobilise citizens and deliver at extraordinary scale. The question now is whether that capacity can be converted into higher-quality institutions, productive jobs, sustainable growth and greater trust between citizens and the government.That is the larger meaning of Narendra Modi’s 25 years in governance. Leadership is not only the ability to respond to the demands of the present; it is the ability to enlarge a nation’s sense of what is possible. The enduring value of this period will be measured not simply by the schemes associated with it, but by whether the governing capacity created over these years enables every region and every citizen to participate in India’s next developmental leap. The foundations have been laid. The responsibility of the next quarter century is to build upon them with ambition, accountability and a clear measureof outcomes. 

( DAILY WORLD )