BHARAT’S ANTICIPATORY STATECRAFT IN 2025

In a democracy especially for a nation as diverse and vast as India where the discourse is perpetual and opinions infinite, the true mark of progress is not how forcefully a nation can speak but how well it can listen, think and act with confidence and equanimity. Democracies are nurtured not by silencing of debates but by elevating them and in the year 2025, Indian republic came of age and crossed an invisible threshold not marked solely by GDP charts and global indices but in terms of its national maturity where the government prioritised results over rhetoric and administrative continuity over confrontation. This advancement was needed to overcome years of reactive policy making so as to build resilience through preemptive intuitional design and fill the structural gap.

For much of its initial independent history, major reforms of India have been reactive, belated responses to fiscal distress triggered mainly by crisis. The severe balance of payment deficit of 1990’s, the foreign exchange crisis of 1991 that led to The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2003 enacted to control revenue deficit and unsustainable borrowing. Agrarian distress resulted in formulation of an emergency safety valve in the form of MGNREGA. Each was borne of a correction not foresight. What distinguishes legislation of 2025 is the reversal of this pattern where we see a government legislating before crisis, a State that believes in preparing and not repairing. In the last year the nation reflected a shift in its manner of governance, power of composure, a clear sense of direction, a government that did not need disorder to deliver resulting in a society that gained equilibrium between tradition and transformation.

The signs were quite evident as the Parliament functioned with focus and restraint. Based on the data of PRS Legislative Research and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat the 269th session in the winter of 2025 recorded 121 % productivity in the Rajya Sabha and 111% in Lok Sabha. In the year 2025 nearly 39 major Bills were debated and passed following debates and discussions which reflected discipline of a matured democracy.

One of the defining legislation of 2025 was the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill or GRAM-G. Passed on December 19, this legislation is an attempt to reimagine rural employment by exceeding its scope beyond welfare and turning it into a catalyst for wealth creation. Building upon the 20 year old MNREGA, it guarantees 125 days of employment per household, while simultaneously linking all labour efforts to the creation of durable community assets in fields like water security, core rural infrastructure and livelihood related infrastructure. The launch of ‘Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans’ (VGPP’s) offers fiscal and digital autonomy to villages to identify and manage local projects that are monitored via AI based systems. This alone has the capacity to shift the focus of rural policy from relief to regeneration. The Ministry of Rural Development has estimated that by 2030 rural economies will largely begin to sustain themselves as the distress migration rate may fall by a quarter. So, for the first time perhaps India’s Social protection framework is not merely mitigating poverty but converting public effort into productive capital. This measure ensures economic symmetry and a pattern of growth that is not solely urban centric.

The Parliament passed another reform redefining India’s nuclear framework called SHANTI, Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill. This bill while maintaining sovereignty over safety, security and waste management, modernises country’s atomic architecture by regulating publicprivate collaboration in small modular reactors, power generation, equipment manufacturing and uranium-235 enrichment. This bill is more strategic than technical as it expands government’s energy independence doctrine that can help reduce fossil fuel imports in the coming decade and build India as an exporter of clean dependable energy technologies. It also seeks to ensure that nation’s growth is powered by indigenous innovations, self sustaining infrastructure, and secure nuclear ecosystems through meticulous long term planning.

The same composure can be seen in other bills passed such ‘Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill,’ 2025 which seeks to modernise India’s Insurance sector by permitting 100 % FDI and expanding policyholder protection to deepen insurance coverage. Along with liberalisation the bill demonstrates pro active governance by building on capital, technology and global risk sharing capacity before systemic rupture reveals vulnerabilities.

The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill institutionalises the shift from being relief centric disaster response to risk reduction, preparedness and zero casualty governance. The attention is on disaster management being mainstreamed into everyday governance and not activated only after loss occurs. This is done through early warning systems; AI based monitoring and community participation through schemes like ‘Aapada Mitra.’

India’s economic front also showed institutional maturity. IMF upgraded India’s GDP by 20 basis points to 7 % which displays economic resilience. In the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme total sales by PLI participants exceeded 16.5 lakh crore and it has also emerged as a major job creator generating 12 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities, especially with respect to pharmaceuticals, automobile and auto components and drone and drone components. India’s recent trajectory reflects decentralised, inclusive growth driven by Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, mass digital adoption and structural economic diversification. Social governance has shifted towards rehabilitation, data protection and citizen-centric accountability. Globally, amid geopolitical fragmentation, India has pursued strategic restraint, climate justice and Global South cooperation, positioning itself as a bridge between developed and developing nations and an agenda-shaping, convergent power in a multipolar world.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Dr Richa Tiwari, The writer is Assistant Professor, Political Science, Pondicherry University