11 Things Congress Didn’t Do in 60 years (That BJP Did in 11)

Somebody on Instagram posted a real saying if anyone could list a single policy that the BJP government started from scratch. I thought I should give at least a few.

Policies that didn’t exist in this form, scale, or intent before 2014. Starting with the basic ones:

1. PM Jan Dhan Yojana (started in 2014)

The Difference: Previous attempts at “Financial Inclusion” were target-based for banks and often resulted in “ghost accounts” or remained limited to village-level cooperatives. This was a mission-mode, zero-balance individual mandate.
Result: Led to 500 million+ new accounts, bringing nearly the entire unbanked population into the formal economy.
Impact: Created the “base layer” for the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile), leading to direct benefits entirely eliminating middlemen and saving the exchequer over ₹3.5 lakh crore in leaked subsidies.

2. PM-KISAN (started in 2019)

The Difference: Previous governments relied on farm loan waivers which were reactive, favored big farmers, and effectively penalized those who were disciplined enough to pay their loans.
Result: This was a “from-scratch” shift to Direct Income Support. Every eligible farmer receives ₹6,000 annually in three installments directly in their bank accounts.
Impact: It provides liquidity for seeds and fertilizers before the sowing season, bypassing the local “Sahukar” (moneylender) cycle.

3. PM Ujjwala Yojana (started in 2016)

The Difference: Past policies focused on providing subsidies for existing users (mostly urban/middle class). This was the first time a government focused on the upfront cost of the connection itself for the poor.
Result: Over 100 million connections provided to BPL households.
Impact: Specifically targeted women who previously relied on firewood/dung cakes, significantly improving rural respiratory health and reducing “drudgery” time.

These are the basic ones. There are others in the list like Toilets, Swatchta Abhiyan, Rural Road connectivity; I did not want to use all the space with the basic ones.

Moving on to Complex Structural Reforms

4. PM MUDRA Yojana

The Difference: Earlier, getting a small business loan required collateral, which the poor didn’t have. This led to a reliance on informal lenders with usurious interest rates.
Result: As of April 2026, over 57 crore loans totaling ₹40 lakh crore have been disbursed.
Impact: It created the “Unfunded” to “Funded” pipeline. Categorizing loans into Shishu, Kishor, and Tarun allowed even a street vendor to get a collateral-free loan of ₹50,000 to start a business.

5. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)

The Difference: Before 2016, India had a “Company can die, but the Promoter never dies” culture. Sick units would languish in courts (BIFR) for decades while bank NPAs piled up.
Result: A time-bound (initially 180-270 days) process to either resolve or liquidate a failing company.
Impact: It fundamentally shifted the “Power of the Debtor” to the “Power of the Creditor.” Over ₹4 lakh crore has been recovered, and more importantly, it ended the era of “crony capitalism” where promoters could keep control of a company despite defaulting.

6. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) — Launched 2016

Impact: It eliminated the need for expensive Point-of-Sale (PoS) card machines for small vendors. By using a simple QR Code, it brought everyone from the vegetable seller to the luxury mall onto the same digital grid.
The Difference: Before 2016, digital payments were fragmented. You had NEFT/RTGS (slow, batch-processed, required IFSC codes/Account numbers) or Digital Wallets like early Paytm/Mobikwik (which were “walled gardens”—you couldn’t send money from a Paytm wallet to a Mobikwik wallet).
Result: It created an interoperable, real-time platform. As of April 2026, UPI processes over 22 billion transactions a month, accounting for nearly 50% of all global real-time payments.

One of the major ones that I actually wanted to put here is GST which transformed India into a unified market. But since GST as a concept was available before 2014 (Congress never had the guts to implement it), some might say it was inherited.

The Visionary “New India” Policies that are my personal favourites

7. PLI (Production Linked Incentive) & DLI (Design Linked Incentive)

The Difference: Old-school industrial policy was about “granting protection” (high tariffs). PLI is about “rewarding performance.” You only get paid after you produce and sell.
Result: Massive success in mobile manufacturing (India is now the #2 producer globally) and expanding into 14 sectors like drones, specialty steel, and pharma.
Impact: DLI (Design Linked Incentive) specifically targets IP creation, moving India from “Assembling for the World” to “Designing for the World.”

8. Startup India Ecosystem

The Difference: Startups used to be treated as “Small Scale Industries” (SSI) buried under the same red tape as a cement factory. This policy created a separate legal and fiscal identity for startups.
Result: India now has over 120,000+ registered startups and 110+ Unicorcs.
Impact: Introduced “Self-Certification” for labor/environmental laws for 3 years, eliminating the “Inspector Raj” for new-age entrepreneurs.

9. India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

The Difference: Past attempts were small-scale R&D. The ISM is a $10 billion sovereign-backed fund that offers 50% capital support to set up global-scale fabs.
Result: By April 2026, four plants are operational (Micron, Kaynes, etc.), and the first “Mega Fab” by Tata-PSMC is nearing completion.
Impact: It has secured India’s position in the global electronics value chain, ensuring we aren’t just consumers but creators of the “brains” of all modern tech.

10. IN-SPACe (Space Liberalization)

The Difference: For 50 years, Space was a “closed shop” run only by ISRO. Private players were just parts suppliers.
Result: IN-SPACe acts as a single-window regulator that ends ISRO’s monopoly.
Impact: Over 300 space startups are active today. We have seen private rocket launches (Skyroot) and 3D-printed engines (Agnikul), making India a “Space Hub” rather than just a “Space Agency.”

11. PM Vishwakarma Yojana

The Difference: While older schemes focused on “Skilling” (standard classroom training), this was the first to recognize and formalize traditional artisans (carpenters, goldsmiths, cobblers) as a core pillar of the economy.
Result: Provides holistic support—training, ₹15,000 toolkit grants, and collateral-free credit at 5% interest.
Impact: It integrates traditional craftsmen into the modern supply chain, ensuring that “generational skills” are not lost but rather scaled through modern branding and e-commerce.

12. PM Gati Shakti (National Master Plan)

13. National Logistics Policy (NLP)

14 . …

These are some which were off the top of my head. There are many more that I haven’t even touched upon.

The problem with congress was not that they did not know enough, the problem was they did not do enough. The pace at which they did was simply unacceptable. They set the benchmark so low that it is extremely difficult for this government to go lower than that.

“The question isn’t whether BJP created policies from scratch.”

The question is:
Why did ideas suddenly start working after 2014?

The answer is :
INTENT

Since the instagram reel that prompted me to write this post said something about rice bag converts, only since he said so, I would like to gladly rub some in the face:

the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.
The Waqf amendment bill 2025;
Abrogation of Article 370
Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Statue of Unity in Gujarat, New Parliament
Surgical Strikes, Air Strikes, Operation Sindoor!
….

I can imagine the frustration. If you want more, visit the blog page by page there are 250+ posts, will give you enough reasons to reconsider.