A Glass Half Full | Infrastructure

Boosting the country's infrastructure has been a big challenge for successive governments. Projects in the past have traditionally lagged for want of funds and efficient implementation. Although the Modi government may pride itself on some green shoots in this segment-notably roads and power-others like railways and telecom leave a lot to be desired. In roads, the government claims it has achieved 34 km of road construction a day in the past two years, compared to 11.3 km under the previous UPA regime.

In power, the ambitious Ujwal DisCom Assurance Yojana, or UDAY, helped push a major portion of the Rs 3.2 lakh crore of accumulated debt of distribution companies (discoms) to the respective state governments' books, paving the way for reform in operations and upgrade of power infrastructure. Meanwhile, last year, the Centre