3 years of UPA-II.... ANy reasons to cheer????

 As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi get ready to present their report card for the UPA-II's third year, it seems there would not be much to celebrate.

It has been a year of controversies for the UPA-II... attacks, couter-attacks... angry and sulking allies... and finally defeat.

The fact that the PMO had to send repeated reminders to ministers to send their list of achievements as inputs for the report card, goes to show that it may well be a skinny card which the PM will present.

The Finance Ministry has been plagued with a falling rupee, rising inflation and food prices and a fall in global credit rating. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee needs to do some major thinking here.

Meanwhile, Home Minister P Chidambaram's pet project NCTC has been put on hold. AFSPA, Manipur and Telangana also remain unsolved problems.

The Defence Ministry, on the other hand, has been in the news more for controversy over Army Chief General VK Singh and allegations of corruption in deals than any other step ahead.

Meanwhile, Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh's flagship Land Acquisition Bill is caught in politics and an approval from key UPA ally and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems difficult.

It has been a year of virtually no-show for the UPA-II. Even some of the decisions taken, like the public procurement bill, grievance redressal bill, were done under pressure from the Opposition and Team Anna to show that the UPA was committed to fighting corruption.

Apart from the regional stalwarts like Mulayam, Mamata, Badal, Jayalalithaa poses a great threat to the current UPA II. Right from FDI to NCTC, regional parties stormed the government. The government has NO answers to any of the questions posed by them.

Yet Congress realises that with just two years left to go before the Lok Sabha polls, it is important to put the best foot forward. So at the 3 years' celebration, the photo-op will be there and an effort will be made to showcase its achievements, no matter how limited.

Top 10 lows:-

 (01) Economic growth slows down, will barely reach 7% of the GDP

(02) Infrastructure projects lag behind. As against a target of 20-km-a-day highway construction, set 3 years ago, the govt achieved 6.16km per day in the last fiscal

(03) Union Cabinet is hopelessly divided over key policy issues; senior ministers speaks in different voices. Whether it’s FDSI in retail or other issues, discordant voices from within the Cabinet often embarrass the government.

(04) A letter by Army Chief Gen VK Singh to the Prime Minister, when leaked, reveals that the armed forces may be far from prepared to face any eventualities.

(05) Telangana continues to burn, with even Congress MPs from the region protesting the government over delay in carving of Andhra.

(06) Naxals get an upper hand in their struggle against the Indian state. The Centre just cannot wash its hand of the issue by calling it as a “law and order” and a “state subject”

(07) PM’s nuclear power-driven energy security template is already in shambles.

(08) Government is embarrassed on the foreign policy. Water sharing with Bangladesh, it’s stand on Sri Lankan issues, Iran’s policy, TAPI &IPI projects, etc…(the list is so long…)

(09) Lokpal Bill discussion in the Rajya Sabha comes to an abrupt end at the midnight hour, with govt defending the move (but political analysts says it is a murder of Indian parliament)

(10) Delhi police arresting Ramdev. SC slams. (This is the only government which got so many slams (‘advice’) from the SC)