As Narendra Modi completes 25 years in executive office since becoming Gujarat chief minister, a new research fellowship will study his record as chief minister and prime minister. Ten researchers will examine how his approach to governance evolved and what changes it brought to administration and citizens' lives.
A Sangh-inspired think tank, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP), will launch the Good Governance Research Fellowship, “Modi @ 25: The Difference That He Made.” This will run for six to nine months from November 2026. Each fellow will receive ₹1 lakh a month, besides research and institutional assistance.
Areas to be covered include leadership and governance, administrative and institutional changes, policy-making and implementation, welfare delivery, infrastructure, technology and digital governance, citizen participation, political communication, national identity, security, science, and institutional models.
According to the format of the scholarship, the researchers will use existing studies, policy documents, archival material, apart from speaking to stakeholders and make selected field visits to Gujarat and other parts of the country. “A key part of the study will be a comparison of conditions before and after major policy and administrative changes,” officials said.
Technology will be another area of study, including its use in governance and the delivery of welfare and infrastructure. The researchers will also examine citizen-government communication, regulatory changes, institutional reforms and national security. The project will study the idea of “ease of living” and use policy records and field research to assess changes.
RMP vice-chairman Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who will mentor the fellowship, said the study would look beyond the length of Modi’s tenure.
“The duration of the tenure is not enough to measure; it is necessary to look at its depth,” Sahasrabuddhe said at the launch. He said the project would examine what he described as the “value addition” during Modi’s 25 years in executive leadership.
Fellowship director Ajay Singh, a senior journalist and former Press Secretary to the President, said the researchers would study what changes had taken place in people’s lives over the past 25 years and how different aspects of governance could be measured.
The selection process will have several stages of screening.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who had formally launched the scholarship, said he had suggested that Modi’s leadership and governance model should be studied as a case study. He said the fellowship was an attempt to take that idea forward.
Singh referred to Modi’s handling of the 2001 Kutch earthquake as an example of his approach to administration. He said Modi believed in taking decisions quickly and ensuring that government decisions were implemented on the ground rather than remaining on files. “Modi ji believes that the real test of good governance and policy happens on the ground,” Singh said. He also listed various initiatives of Modi's governance.
