Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes 8 years in office, Let's see how the Modi government stood up to challenges over the years.
Highlights
- The Modi government came to power eight years back
- It's a recap of what and how the govt changed some of the laws that "plagued" the nation
- From Sedition to abrogation of Article 370, read on to know what all were changed
Modi govt 8 years: It was eight years ago that the NDA government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its tall leader Narendra Modi stormed his way to power, thrashing the grand-old Congress party out of power and marking the beginning of many mega-events.
Eight years later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only non-Congress government to have survived this long uninterrupted.
Among the many things that the eight years of the PM Modi governance has seen is the scrapping of scores of laws — some archaic, some unnecessary, some bizarre -- that acted as obstacles to running an unwrinkled administration.
While the scrapping or repeal of many legislations has drawn the ire of the Opposition and even the public, the Modi government has time and again managed to dodge all the criticism and scrapped a record number of obsolete laws and even, at times, has been compelled to repeal legislations on demands.
From rolling back the farm laws after months of protest at the gates of Delhi by the farmers to now changing its stance over the contentious sedition law, take a look at the change of fate of some legislations under the Narendra Modi government.
Farm laws
Prime Minister Narendra announced in November 2021 that the farm laws will be repealed. The announcement came over a year after relentless protests by farmers across the country that even got international recognition.
The Modi government eventually gave up and repealed the laws after facing immense protests from the farmer community. 
Apologising to the countrymen, PM Modi had, while announcing his government's decision. had appealed to the protesting farmers to return to their homes and called for a new beginning. The process to repeal the farm laws was then subsequently completed in the Winter Session of Parliament
Land Acquisition Bill
The farm laws being scrapped reportedly was the second time the Modi government rolled back a bill ahead of an assembly election.
In 2015, a year after coming to power at the Centre, the government had to accept the demand to revisit its contentious land acquisition law. This too was a result of protests by a section of farmers and took place just weeks ahead of the 2015 Bihar assembly election.
The main area of contention for the protesters was that the Modi government introduced key changes to expand the purpose for which land can be acquired without consent from landowners and undertaking social impact assessment. While the Land Acquisition Bill was cleared in the Lok Sabha, it faced opposition in the upper House where the BJP and its allies fell short of numbers.
Article 370
One of the most historic decisions taken by the Modi government was the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019 that stripped Jammu and Kashmir off its special status and proposed the bifurcation of the state into two union territories - J&K and Ladakh.
Before this, Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in the country with its separate constitution. After the abrogation of Article 370, the special provision which granted power to J&K to have its own constitution was also revoked, bringing J&K to adhere to the Constitution of India, much like the rest of the country.
Stance on Sedition Law
The Modi government has often been at the receiving end of criticism for slapping individuals speaking against it with charges under the sedition law. However, in a big about-turn, the Centre softened its stance on the contentious law and told the court earlier this month that it is ready to reconsider the colonial-era law.
After the change in stance, the Supreme Court, in a massive decision, put on hold the British-era law temporarily and asked the Centre and states to not file fresh FIRs under the Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalises the offence of sedition.
While changing its stand on the sedition law earlier this month, the Centre, in an affidavit, had said that the government is committed to removing outdated colonial laws while protecting the sovereignty of the nation.
Over 1,500 outdated laws have been scrapped since 2014-15 when the Modi government first came to power, the Union home ministry said, adding that over 25,000 compliance burdens that were pain points have already been removed under PM Modi’s leadership.
“Various offences which were causing mindless hindrances to people have been de-criminalised. This is an ongoing process. These were laws and compliances which reeked of a colonial mindset and thus have no place in today’s India,” the Centre said.
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