A legacy of rights-based laws

From MGNREGA to RTI, Manmohan Singh's policies transformed India's social welfare landscape

- SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

Long before Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party burst in on the political scene, the Congress in 2004 went to the people with the overarching theme: "Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath". It worked in the elections that year. And the policy push that came with it is one of the lasting legacies of Manmohan Singh's 10-year tenure as Prime Minister: Rights-based legislation.

From the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to the Right to Information (RTI) to the Forests Rights Act, his government took the legislative route to raise social welfare to an altogether new level.

Though many of the pieces of legislation were championed by the National Advisory Council, which was an advisory body chaired by then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and had their own share of criticism from the Prime Minister's Office, its Economic Advisory Council, or the Planning Commission, experts said they ultimately passed muster with all their cut and thrust.