Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday, 1 July 2026, posted a wide-ranging tribute to 12 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance, arguing that development under the current administration has moved beyond announcements to become visible, measurable change in the daily lives of crores of Indians.

Context

Writing in Hindi, Shekhawat invoked a pointed contrast: 'ek samay tha jab Delhi se bheje gaye ek rupaye mein se sirf 15 paise hi labhaarthi tak pahunch paate the' — 'there was a time when of every one rupee sent from Delhi, only 15 paise actually reached the beneficiary.' He argued that today, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the full amount reaches beneficiaries' bank accounts. The 15-paise figure is a reference to a remark attributed to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s, which has since become a standard BJP talking point on welfare leakage.

The post, accompanied by a video, lists seven pillars of what Shekhawat calls 'new India's story': digital revolution, women's empowerment, farmer welfare, youth opportunity, health and education reforms, modern infrastructure, and strides toward Aatmanirbhar Bharat. He invites readers to discover achievements 'from A to Z' that have given India's development a new identity.

Policy Backdrop

The DBT architecture was substantially scaled after 2014 through the JAM trinity — Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar biometric IDs, and Mobile connectivity — enabling direct electronic transfers that bypassed earlier multi-layered intermediary chains. The government has periodically cited DBT as a tool for eliminating ghost beneficiaries and reducing leakages across schemes ranging from LPG subsidies to MGNREGS wages.

The broader governance shift Shekhawat describes encompasses the Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on 2 October 2014, which targeted rural and urban sanitation; the Digital India programme, approved in 2015 to expand e-governance and digital public infrastructure; and the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, announced in May 2020 with fiscal and manufacturing self-reliance goals.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries cited in this governance narrative are rural households, women self-help groups, farmers, and MSMEs — constituencies that have been central to BJP's political mobilisation since 2014. DBT alone covers dozens of central schemes and has, according to government data, transferred funds worth several lakh crore rupees directly into beneficiary accounts over the past decade.

Women's empowerment features prominently in the post's checklist, consistent with flagship schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, PM Ujjwala Yojana, and the expansion of Jan Dhan accounts among women. Youth opportunity references align with skilling initiatives and the Startup India push that have been central to the administration's economic messaging.

What's Next

The post arrives as the Modi government enters what would be the second year of its third term, a period when governance record-setting and milestone communication typically intensify ahead of state election cycles. Upcoming Economic Survey data and CAG audit reports on DBT effectiveness are expected to either bolster or complicate the efficiency claims being amplified by party leaders like Shekhawat.

Parliamentary debate on the Digital Personal Data Protection Act's implementation will also test the government's commitment to citizen-centric e-governance — a key plank of the 'new India' narrative being promoted across party platforms.