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Q. Can I transfer to a college that is far away from my community college where I got associates degree? So I’m finishing my associate degree in my local community college, but I want to transfer to a normal college that is a few states away using 2+2 program to get a bachelors degree there. Is it possible?A. It is very common to transfer from a 2-year community college to a 4-year university. It is easier if there is an existing articulation agreement between the schools, guaranteeing admission if a certain GPA is maintained. These agreements usually involve same state public institutions. Just make sure that you can transfer as many credits as possible. See post below, particularly the section about 2+2 programs.All the best!Transfer College The Right Way... And Keep Your CreditsMaybe you’re currently in community college, with the goal of transferring to a four-year university for your bachelor’s degree. Or maybe you’re already enrolled in a four-year institution, but have found it’s not a good fit, and you’re seeking other options. Or maybe you “stopped out” of college for a couple of years, relocated in the meantime, and now want to complete your education at a new school.As a prospective transfer student, you’ve got a big decision to make – namely, which school to choose. And in many ways, you’ll go through much the same process as those who enter directly from high school. You, just like they, will need to identify which schools offer your major…. and provide a good financial package to make attendance affordable….and have a decent academic reputation….and are located in the area of the country you want…and are either the small, medium, or large size you like … with the campus or online setting you prefer.And, oh yeah….a school you can get into.But as a transfer student, there’s one big consideration that means absolutely nothing to incoming freshmen – and is absolutely critical to you.You’ll need to make sure that most, or ideally all, of your credits transfer. Do so successfully, and you’ll save more than time. And effort. And money.You’ll increase the odds that you’ll earn your bachelor’s degree at all.Transfer Credit: What’s the Issue?College Transfers Are CommonBefore we get into the issue of transferring credits successfully and how that affects graduation rates, it may comfort you to know that you won’t be alone in your quest. Far from it. According to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), more than a third of undergraduates transfer at least once, and 11% transfer twice. And, believe it or not, we do indeed live in a country of “movers,” as about one in 50 students (2.3%) transfer three times or more.So you have plenty of company.These students fall into several different categories. The NCES reports that, of all the students who transfer, the greatest number (37% of the total) transfer from two-year to four-year schools. Still, a significant portion transfer between four-year institutions (22%) and between two-year institutions (21%), and almost one in five (17%) “reverse transfer” from a four-year to a two-year school.Regardless of the situation, all these students have the same basic challenge, and that is to find (and get into) an appropriate school that will credit them for the bulk of their previous coursework. In fact, research has shown that the likelihood of completing one’s bachelor’s degree (especially within the same time frame as “native” students – those who began at the school as freshmen) depends largely on getting this one piece of the “transfer puzzle” right.It’s a Bad Idea to Leave Your Credits Behind!Naturally, the more credits you can transfer in, the fewer courses you’ll have to take. Of course that would translate to a savings of both time and money. (Not exactly rocket science here.) What’s not so obvious, though, is that the more of your credits your transfer school accepts, the more likely you are to earn your bachelor’s degree – in some cases, much more likely.The difference credit transfer makes is remarkable. According to “The Community College Route to the Bachelor’s Degree,” a study by David Monaghan and Paul Attewell of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, community college students who transfer in all or most of the credits they’ve earned (90% or more of their credits) are 2.5 times more likely to graduate than those who transfer in less than 50%.But the study also revealed that only 58% of students transfer in with all or most of their credits. Even more disheartening, though, is that 14% of community college students lose almost all previously earned credits (90% or more) and are therefore starting out as freshmen – again! – regardless of how much time they’ve already been in college. (The remaining 28% of students lose between 10% and 89% of their credits.)That is why, Monaghan and Attewell explain, transfer students as a group graduate at lower rates than native students (a fact long established by research). It is not that transfer students are academically inferior. Nor do they have less access to financial aid. The cold, hard truth is that these students are at a big disadvantage because they lose so many credits when they transfer.How Does Credit Transfer Work?So what’s the trouble? Why do so many students lose so many credits in the transfer process, thereby making the ultimate goal of earning a bachelor’s degree that much more difficult?Restrictive credit transfer policies bear some of the blame. Beyond that, though, the situation is just plain complicated. There are no consistent rules that dictate which courses will be credited by the “receiver” institutions, leading to all sorts of missed opportunities and less-than-ideal choices by students. Two significant exceptions are transfers involving articulation agreements and “core curricula,” both of which are described in the two-year to four-year transfer section.Transferring credits can be complicated and confusing. But it’s worth the time and effort it takes to do it right.So, then, why the confusion? Let us count the ways:Schools vary on the maximum number of transfer credits they allow (and the minimum number they require).Some schools require a minimum grade of B in a course in order to get transfer credit for it. Others accept a C, or even a C-. (There are even rare instances in which a D will be accepted, as long as the student’s overall GPA meets a minimum standard.)Different schools (and different degree programs offered by those schools) may require different specific courses as prerequisites for admittance.Similar course names (between originating/receiver schools) don’t necessarily mean credit will transfer. It’s the content of the course that counts, and different schools could assign different equivalency measures.Some schools will accept credit for a course completed in a student’s major but apply it as an elective only; others will credit it toward the major itself.The “expiration date” on earned credits varies among schools – which is a particular concern for older students returning after some years of absence.AP or CLEP exams, which may have been counted for credit by your community college, might not be accepted by the receiver school (but then again, they might).Different schools have different policies concerning credit for military training, online courses, and other “non-traditional” educational experiences.And the list goes on.As a result, the number of “to-do” items associated with a transfer can add up. Students need to conduct extensive research, talk with both their originating and receiver schools’ transfer or admissions offices (ideally), review state transfer websites when appropriate, learn the specifics of relevant articulation agreements when available, study the information available from the websites of their targeted receiver schools, and, ultimately, apply to their targeted receiver schools before they can receive the official word on which of their credits will transfer.Whew.It takes planning. And work. And determination. But done right, you’ll make your education more affordable and your degree more attainable. It’s worth the effort.Transferring From a Two-Year School to a Four-Year SchoolWhy It’s a Good IdeaYou’ve already seen how common it is for community college students to transfer to four-year schools. The NCES study mentioned earlier showed that more students follow that route than any other group – they make up nearly 37% of all transfers.It’s no surprise that so many community college students continue on to four-year schools, as the benefits of completing one’s degree are well established: greater civic engagement, greater lifetime earnings, and lower unemployment, among other things. But what benefit did these students get by enrolling in community college in the first place, rather than starting off in a traditional college or university?Community College is a Lot CheaperIt won’t come as a shocker that the price tag of a community college is a lot smaller than that of a four-year institution. And while it’s true that some universities might offer you enough in the way of financial aid that the costs of the two paths get closer together, in most cases you (or Mom and Dad, thank you very much!) can save a lot of money if you spend your first two undergraduate years in community college.But do you realize just how large those savings can be?According to the College Board, the in-state tuition and fees for a public two-year institution averaged $3,347 a year compared to almost three times as much – $9,139 – for a four-year public institution. That alone is substantial. But wait. The potential savings are really astounding when you consider the tuition charged by out-of state public colleges, which average $22,958 a year, and the $31,231 (gulp) charged by private four-year schools. (Don’t forget to factor in the cost of room and board as well. With the cost of on-campus living at around $10,000 a year, you can save a lot of money by spending the first couple years of college living at home.)*These figures, available from Trends in College Pricing by the College Board, are published charges for the 2014-2015 school and do not include reductions from financial aid and scholarship. Neither do these figures include charges for room and board, which are also available in the same report.But Will It Help You Succeed in a Four-Year School?Saving money is always a big plus, but at the same time, you sure wouldn’t want to sacrifice your chances of ultimate success by going to a two-year college first. And you won’t. Transferees from community colleges can – and do – succeed in completing their degree, and in large numbers. An interesting study entitled “The Community College Pipeline” from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) revealed that 45% of all students who earned a bachelor’s degree in 2010 – 2011 were previously enrolled in a two-year college at some point.And depending on which state you’re in, you might just find that your community college experience makes you part of the majority. Delving into the NSC’s data further, we learn that, for the 2010-2011 academic year (the year of the study), fully 78% of all students who received bachelor’s degrees in Texas were once community college students, as were 71% of those in Wyoming, 65% of those in both California and Kansas, and 62% of those in Oregon. All told, there were 13 states where more than half the students who earned bachelor’s degrees had previously been enrolled in a two-year school. So, it looks like a popular path to follow.TIP: FINISH YOUR A.A. DEGREE FIRST!One of the best indications that a transfer student from a community college will ultimately earn a bachelor’s degree at the receiver school is if he or she earned an A.A. degree before transferring. An NSC “Snapshot Report” shows that students who transfer in with the two-year credential earn bachelor’s degrees at about the same rate (72%) as the students who started a four-year program as freshmen. On the other hand, the graduation rate among community college students who make the jump before completing their two-year degree drops to 56%.Don’t forget, though, that the graduation rate for many of those transferring in from community college trails that of native students (see graph above), largely because so many transfer students lose credits when they move to their new schools. You might recall from earlier in this article, for example, that 14% of community college students lose almost all their previously earned credits, and only 58% of students manage to hold on to at least 90% of their credits.It doesn’t have to be that way. Given the multitude of state-sponsored websites, transfer agreements between transfer and receiver schools, and the availability of advisors to help you through the process, virtually every community college student should be able to make his or her move without any substantial loss of credits.All it takes is a fair amount of planning.Make it Easier to Get Into Your Transfer SchoolThe news gets better yet. In certain situations, you could actually increase your chances of getting into a top-tier or other competitive institution as a transfer student as compared to applying directly from high school.Let’s say that you’re a New York high school student who has his or her heart set on the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell. (Yes… you’ve had visions of attending an “Ivy” since eighth grade.) The problem is that although you’re an excellent student when measured in terms of grades, you’ve never done particularly well on standardized exams. Call it test anxiety… call it whatever… the discouraging fact is that your SAT (or ACT) scores did not come close to reflecting your academic ability. And so, sadly, Cornell turned you down.The encouraging news, though, is that Cornell has the highest transfer acceptance rate in the Ivy League. So you head off to your local community college, achieve a G.P.A. of 3.7 (while carefully meeting the terms of the articulation agreement* with Cornell), and apply for transfer as a junior. Because of your demonstrated success in your two-year program, you’ve not only become an attractive candidate to Cornell, but your test score carries much less weight. (In fact, Cornell will accept transfer students who never even took the SAT, but students who have scores must present them.)*Articulation agreements are explained in the next section.A Paved Pathway to Help You Transfer: Articulation Agreements & Guaranteed AdmissionA Winning Hand: Articulation AgreementsIt’s almost like you’ve been dealt a perfect hand of cards. Play them right, and you can transfer just about every single credit you earn in community college to any one of dozens of four-year institutions.Articulation agreements can make the process much, much easier for you.We’re talking about “articulation agreements” – arrangements that have already been worked out between participating community colleges and four-year schools to allow for a smooth transition of students from the former to the latter. At its core, an articulation agreement takes the risk of lost credits out of the equation, by specifying – or “articulating” – which classes completed at the two-year school will be credited toward a bachelor’s degree program at the participating four-year schools (assuming grade minimums are met), along with outlining prerequisites and other requirements.And in this game, everyone wins. The student… the community colleges… and the four-year schools.The student knows ahead of time which courses will fulfill prerequisites, which courses have already been deemed “credit-worthy” by the receiving institution, and what grades are necessary to ensure a seamless transfer.The community college benefits, as well, by easing the transfer process. It makes starting your college years at a two-year school all the more attractive if you know that there’s a process in place to help you meet your goal of continuing on to a bachelor’s degree.And finally, the receiver school gains, too, with a ready-made pipeline of qualified transfer students prepared to enter its programs and, given the fact they’ve already demonstrated academic success at the college level, likely to complete their degrees and graduate.Be aware, though, that not all articulation agreements apply to all majors. In many situations, the agreement between your community college and a receiver school pertains only to specific majors. (You’ll be able to search articulation agreements by major using tools and resources we describe below.) No worries, though… you’re likely to find many schools that have transfer agreements in place for your program.What Do You Mean, “Guaranteed Admission”?As you look over the transfer section of your community college or state website, there’s another possibility you may come across – something that takes a transfer agreement one step further. We speak of “guaranteed admissions” policies, an arrangement between two-year and four-year schools that promises admission if specific criteria are met.Are you a California student? Then you’re golden. The state has a wide-reaching policy, Transfer Guaranteed Admissions, ensuring that any (!) California community college student who completes 60 credits, takes the required classes (which vary by major), and earns a minimum GPA will be guaranteed admission to one of six campuses in the University of California system.Florida student, maybe? The sun is shining on you, too. Look into the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities in the country with more than 50,000 students. It too has a guarantee program, called DirectConnect, in which all students who complete an associate’s degree from Brevard Community College, Lake Sumter Community College, Seminole State College of Florida and Valencia Community College are guaranteed entrance.Or Virginia? Opportunities abound here, as well. Through system-wide agreements, students who graduate from one of Virginia’s 23 community colleges with an associate’s degree and a minimum GPA may obtain guaranteed admission to more than 20 of the state’s colleges and universities (each receiver school sets its own standards for guarantee). Learn more via the state’s resource, VAWizard.org.Don’t miss out. Make sure you ask your transfer advisor about any opportunities that may exist in your state.The above is only a summary of guaranteed admissions policies for the states highlighted. Please review the associated websites for more specific requirements.Four Places to Find Helpful InformationThe fact that you have so many ways to explore articulation agreements – and other transfer options – can actually be a double edged sword. On one hand, you’ve got a wealth of data, search tools, and guidelines available to help, but on the other, some of the content from these sources overlaps, and it’s tough to know where to begin.Let’s start with the broad view.Your State’s College Transfer WebsiteIf you’re the type of student who wants to “know it all,” then start your explorations with a website that gives you a bird’s eye view of everything your home state has to offer. These sites, which are usually a collaboration between participating institutions and your state’s government, include articulation agreements that exist between all participating community colleges and four-year schools (within the state’s program). In addition, you’ll be able to read up on various transfer pathways, search databases to help you zoom in on receiver schools that make your short list, and learn about statewide policies designed to make credit transfer more efficient.Which statewide policies are these, you ask? There is tremendous variation, of course, but one that many states have defined is a “core curriculum” – a group of general education classes given at community colleges that participating four-year colleges will accept for credit. This arrangement is becoming increasingly popular. Among the states that either have a core curriculum or are developing one are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and many others. (An excellent website that tells you which states have core curricula, and other transfer-related programs, is the “50-State Analysis” available online at the Education Commission of the States website.The “core curriculum” policy is especially important to those of you majoring in “undecided.” (If that’s you, welcome to the club. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, around 80% of college students change majors at least once.) You can take the core curriculum, knowing that participating four-year schools have agreed to accept it, and you’ll get credit for all your efforts – before you’ve even chosen a major.In any event, your state-affiliated website is a great place to get the “30,000-foot view” of the many community colleges and four-year schools that have agreed to an articulation agreement. Let’s explore a few of these state websites to get an idea of what to expect:Arizona. Wow. Visit AZTransfer.com, and prepare to be blown away. The first thing that will strike you is a focus on the three major state universities – Arizona State, University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University – with detailed information about the transfer process for each. But keep looking, and you’ll see a description of the 35-37 credit “Arizona Core Education Curriculum” (with three separate concentrations) outlining a group of courses guaranteed to be accepted for credit by all participating universities. Look further, and you’ll find a description of various transfer pathways (with search tools to help you find them), a guide that lets you explore degree options by major (and institution), and much more.Pennsylvania. Here’s another goodie. Check out the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Center, and you’ll see a list of the 19 four-year universities and 14 community colleges participating in the “PA TRAC” colleges – along with the “30-Credit Transfer Framework” that consists of courses guaranteed to transfer to schools within the program. Besides that, there’s a step-by-step transfer guide… databases searchable by school, degree program, articulation agreements, and classes….a course equivalency tool… even a section for veterans. And that’s just for starters.Massachusetts. The MassTransfer Block consists of 34 credits that, completed together with at least a 2.0 GPA, will transfer to any public college or university in Massachusetts – even without an A.A. degree. But if you do complete your A.A., you’ll get even more benefits. Depending on your GPA (the higher your GPA, the greater the benefit), you could be part of a “linked” MassTransfer agreement that eliminates the need for an essay, doesn’t charge an admission fee, guarantees admission for those with a GPA of 2.5 or more, and, if you have a GPA of 3.0 or more, provides for a 33 percent tuition waiver (with some other requirements).We picked the three above as examples, but we could go on forever – well, on to 47 more, actually – to give you the full picture. Instead, please go to our state pages to find links to each state’s transfer website. [NOTE: we’re in the process of adding transfer credit links to all of these state pages – they’ll be finished soon]Your Current School’s WebsiteBut maybe you consider the state website “information overload” as a first step. Instead, you’d rather just zero in on the articulation agreements available with the community college you’re currently attending. In that situation, your best starting point is with your own school’s website.That’ll work, too.Just like your state’s website, the transfer portion of community college websites is likely to be a treasure trove of information. In many cases, you’ll see a list not only of traditional four-year campus-based transfer options, but opportunities for online degree completion, guaranteed admissions, a calendar of transfer workshops, a recommended timeline, and general information on the overall process. You’ll almost certainly have links to the participating four-year schools as well as any relevant state-related sites. Plus, as an added bonus, you’ll often learn of academic transfer scholarships to help with the cost.Let’s pick a couple of examples:Since we just highlighted Pennsylvania’s website on transfers, let’s look into things from the perspective of one of its two-year schools – Buck’s County Community College. There you’ll see articulation agreements with 109 schools (yes, we counted), searchable by major or by institution, along with a database of transfer scholarships. Hobart and William Smith offers a Trustee Scholarship of $20,000, Alfred University offers a Presidential Scholarship of $13,000, Chestnut Hill College has a commuter student scholarship of $10,000, and, well… you get it. Beyond that, the site links you to the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation website, outlining the 30-credit transfer “framework” described in the previous section.Or go to the website page for articulation agreements associated with Montgomery College, a two-year institution in Maryland. There you’ll see articulation agreements with nearly 50 colleges and universities, several of which are outside the state. In addition, the site names tons of scholarship opportunities, and evens clues you in on how exceptionally qualified students can get their degrees free-of-charge. (Students could be eligible, for instance, for full tuition for up to four consecutive semesters at the University of Maryland). And finally, you’ll find a link to ARISYS – the state’s transfer website.If you’re looking for academic transfer scholarship options that might not be listed on your school’s website, you can also go to Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for community college students, or to the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for several other opportunities.Your Academic or Transfer AdvisorThere’s certainly a lot of material to digest, and one wrong step can be costly. (And let’s face it, with the abundance of information coming at you from all directions, a misstep could indeed be possible – and very understandable.) That’s why, in addition to your own research, you’ll want to meet with your advisor, as well, to make certain you haven’t overlooked or misunderstood a critical element. The sooner you do this, the better. Ideally, you’re reading this just as you’re starting community college – or no later than a semester or so in – and you can begin meeting transfer requirements right off the bat.The Website of the School You Want to Transfer ToIf you already have a good idea of which school you want to transfer to (or you’ve narrowed it down to two or three possibilities), you could work backwards, and start with that institution’s website. (You’ll be able to link there from your community college website, anyway, but you could save a step and go straight there.) In fact, your best bet – just to make sure you’ve covered all the bases – is to review your receiver school’s website at an early stage regardless, as there may be additional information that will prove useful – or critical – to you. Plus, remember – no matter where you start in your research, you’re going to end up needing to review your receiver school’s website very closely anyway, as you eventually must investigate application policies, submission deadlines, and other details.What If There’s No Articulation Agreement?Aha. The plot thickens.Until now, we’ve been talking about transfers made under an articulation agreement (or a guaranteed admission policy), but if you’ve set your transfer sights on a college or university that has not “partnered” with your community college (especially if you want to go out of state), you’ll have to depend on different or additional resources for your information.You’ve clearly got more work than your peers who are following an articulated path. In fact, your task is similar in many ways to that of a student transferring from one four-year school to another. (You’ll still want to talk with your transfer advisor at your community college to help you with the journey, but more will fall on your shoulders.) Fortunately, the four-year schools have all sorts of guidelines, policies, and tools to help you with a smooth transfer, and state websites will have useful information and databases for you, as well.Transferring Between Four-Year SchoolsMake Sure You Do It for the Right ReasonsYou know from reading the statistics in the opening section that transferring to a new school can be a complicated undertaking – and one that sometimes results in a substantial loss of credits. More than one in ten community college students, for example, lose at least 90% of their credits in the process. And that’s after considering the ready-made transfer agreements they have available to avoid that very scenario. And unless there was a mid-program change of mind or a later decision, they already knew upon enrolling in a two-year college that they would need to transfer to complete a bachelor’s degree.Your situation will likely be more of a challenge, but at least it’s a challenge many people share. According to the study from the National Center for Education Statistics, about one in four transfer students are those moving from one four-year institution to another.Transferring to a new school can solve some kinds of problems… but not all.Let’s face it, though. A transfer is something you probably didn’t foresee when you enrolled in your current school. Rather, it’s more likely that during the heady day or two of freshmen orientation, when you had that knot in your stomach that comes from a combination of nervousness and excitement, you figured you’d be there for the duration.But now you feel that your choice of colleges was wrong, and you want to fix the situation with a transfer. And while a new school can indeed solve many kinds of issues, make sure the move is for all the right reasons. Disliking your roommate is not a good reason. Or being homesick. Or even finding the work too hard. (The transition from high school to college can be difficult, and it’s important to give yourself enough time to adjust.) That said, there are some very legitimate reasons to consider a transfer:You want to switch to a new major that’s not available at your current school.Or the new major is available at your present school, but the department isn’t especially strong there, and another college has a great reputation in the discipline.Your financial situation has changed, and you need to switch to a college with a lower “net cost” (after factoring in the financial award package from the new school).Your family is relocating, and your connections with them mean you have to move too.This next one is subjective, but can be valid just the same: You just feel your current school is a complete “mismatch.” For example, you thought you wanted a big school with a party atmosphere when you initially signed on, but now have discovered you’d be more comfortable – and likely more successful – in a smaller and more studious environment.Or, having never been even slightly athletic in high school, you awoke one morning to find yourself the best football… or baseball… or basketball player ever to grace an American campus, and offers of sports scholarships are pouring in from other schools. (Ha.)Other than that last little joke, the five reasons listed above, among others, are all valid reasons for exploring a transfer. Now you just have to do it right. Pick the correct school, and do what you can to make sure your credits transfer.How to Find the Best Options for YouUnlike community college students, who benefit from numerous articulation agreements, and therefore a ready-made list of lucky (!) contenders for their transfer applications, you’ll have to do a bit more footwork. (Well… fingerwork, really. We’re talking Internet searches and whatnot.) In a nutshell, though, there are four basic steps you’ll want to complete before you apply to your new school:1. Make a List of Schools to ResearchYou’ll need to figure out which colleges match your needs in terms of major, location, the degree of selectivity in admissions, the graduation rate, size (small, medium, or large), environment (rural, suburban, or urban), and affordability. (You won’t be able to determine the true “net cost” after financial aid until after you apply, but there are tools that will help you estimate it.) You also might want to consider such factors as diversity, or activities, or even how much of a party atmosphere the school has.This topic could easily be another article in itself, but we tried to keep it focused and steer you to some excellent resources that can help you narrow your selection.CollegeAffordabilityGuide. Although we admit our bias might be showing (!), please make sure you’ve taken full advantage of the website you’re on right now. Here you can search for schools by state and/or degree program from a unique perspective that uses a unique affordability calculation. And it’s not an obvious calculation, either (as in… hey, that school’s tuition is really low, so let’s include it), but rather one that scores a school according to its “net cost” (the actual price tag after financial awards for lower- or middle-income families), and its success rate (which considers the percentage of students who graduate – or transfer – and have a good record in paying back loans). It’s a great way to really zoom in on the schools that not only have the major you want, and in the location you prefer, but also offer an excellent value while helping you build a foundation for success.The College Board’s Big Future. This site is a real champion, too, as its “College Search” tool lets you search by all sorts of options beyond the usual major and location. Tailor your analysis by test scores and selectivity, type and size of school, housing choices, percentage of financial need met, sports and activities, campus services, weekend and evening classes (especially useful for adult learners with “day jobs”), diversity, and more. Much more.College View. With its SuperMatch tool, this this site assigns a “percentage match” score based on 23 criteria. You’ll find the usual options, of course – major, location, school type and size, and so forth, but you’ll have some other interesting (and lesser-known) preferences to rate, as well. Among these are liberal/conservative, party scene, great college town, religious affiliation, even LGBT-friendly.U.S. Department of Education’s Affordability and Transparency Center. Let’s not forget the resources available from the federal government, either. In addition to its College Navigator tool, through which you can search for schools, the Affordability and Transparency Center lists the least expensive colleges (bottom 10 percent) in terms of tuition and net cost.2. Find Out How “Transfer-Friendly” They AreThis particular step isn’t as critical, but it’s fast and easy to complete, so we suggest you take a look at transfer acceptance rates. And while you won’t necessarily want to cross off a school that accepts very few transfer students – particularly if you believe it is an ideal match for you otherwise – it’s still a good idea to keep these numbers in mind. Do you have the University of Chicago or Stanford on your “wish list,” for example? That’s fine – and good luck! – but remember… the acceptance rate for each of these schools is around 2%. On the other hand, the University of Illinois (Urbana) and UC/Davis accept about half of their transfer applicants.If you don’t have any specific colleges in mind, but simply want a quick way to see which schools have high acceptance rates as a way of focusing your search, you might find it useful to take a broad view. Consider the two following resources:Top 50 Colleges: One list, available at TransferWeb, shows that many of the universities listed on U.S. News & World Report’s Top 50 Colleges have very encouraging transfer acceptance rates. You’ll see, for instance, that the transfer acceptance rate for the University of Notre Dame is 36.9%, Vanderbilt’s is 26.1%, and Cornell’s is 20.6%. Other very strong schools welcome transfer students, as well, such as the College of William and Mary at 43.9% accepted, University of NC/Chapel Hill at 42.8%, University of Virginia at 36.9%, and USC at 33.3%. Still other “Top 50” schools on the list, including UC/Davis and University of Miami, accept more than half their transfer applicants.Most Transfers Overall: Don’t feel you have to limit yourself to one of the Top 50 (in case your situation doesn’t lean that way). Open up the field, and find out which schools accept the most transfers in absolute numbers. (Hint: We’ll get you started. First is DeVry University with more than 12,000 students, followed by University of Texas/Arlington at nearly 9,000 in the fall of 2013.) Review the entire list at U.S. News & World Report’s “most transfers” list.Then again, it’s possible that you already know where you want to transfer and just want to get an idea as to how transfer applicants fared at that institution. In that case, head back to the College Board’s Big Future site, as it’s an efficient way to check out the transfer status of several schools in a matter of minutes. Under College Search, name your school, go to the “transfer” portion, and you’ll see all sorts of interesting data pop up – including the total number of transfer applicants, the number admitted, and the number enrolled. Go to CollegeBoard.com to check out the transfer stats for your target schools.3. Find Their Transfer Admission RequirementsIf your search turned up a match so perfect that it’s almost too good to be true, look closer. It might just be. There’s no sense jumping for joy, for example, if the “match made in heaven” requires a minimum of 24 completed credits for transfer, and you’ve only finished your first 18. Or if the minimum GPA for a particular school is a 3.0, and you’re a C+ student. Or if you have to have completed a sociology course for admission to your transfer program, and you haven’t. Make sure you’re aware of the basic transfer admission requirements before you spend time researching credit evaluations.You’ve found the perfect school. It’s the right size, in the right state, with the major you want. The degree of selectivity is a great match, it has an encouraging transfer acceptance rate, and your research tells you that it is likely to be affordable. What could possibly go wrong?News flash. You find out – too late – that you didn’t take one specific course required for admission. Not a pleasant surprise, especially if it’s late in the game.That’s why it’s important to learn about transfer requirements early in the process. And while many schools have relatively easy-to-meet requirements – perhaps a GPA of 2.0, minimal credits of 12, and no specific course requirements – others have more specific prerequisites. Take a look at a couple of examples, and you’ll see what we mean:University of Illinois/Chicago requires a GPA of 2.5 and a minimum of 24 credits (although transfers to Liberal Arts & Sciences may be allowed fewer credit hours). But there’s more. There may be additional requirements based on the degree program. Majoring in Kinesiology, for instance? If so, prior to admission, you will need to have completed General Biology (w/lab) Pre-Calculus or College Algebra and Trigonometry, English Composition I & II, Introduction to Psychology, and one additional course each in history, humanities, psychology, and sociology.University of Wisconsin/Madison has some interesting requirements, too. It doesn’t require ACT or SAT scores from transfer applicants, but does have requirements going back to an applicant’s high school record. Regardless of the number of college credits earned, for example, a transfer applicant must have completed one year each of high school algebra and plane geometry, one college-level course of Algebra 2 or beyond, and two years of a foreign language in high school (or two semesters in college).It’s all part of the selection process – both yours and theirs! – and it’s something to be aware of at an early stage, before you start the next step (transferring credits). While some general sites give a good overview, your best resource at this point will be the websites of the particular schools you’re considering.4. Find Out How Many of YOUR Credits They Might AcceptThere’s often a correlation between a school’s degree of transfer-friendliness and its credit acceptance policies (for obvious reasons), although it can be a “chicken and the egg” type of thing. (Are students attracted to a specific institution because its credit acceptance policies are more liberal, or has the school instituted a more liberal credit policy specifically to attract transfers?) Either way, once you’ve got your “short list” of target schools down, you’ll need to figure of which one(s) will accept most of your credits.Once you’ve narrowed the field and determined that you’ll meet the minimum admission requirements, you can focus on the critical issue of transferring your credits. You’ve can approach this from many angles – one of which should absolutely be your target school’s website – and we’re suggesting a few possibilities to get you started. But remember, ultimately, you’ll rely on your school’s official credit evaluation once you’ve been accepted. Below are the sources you can get the best information from.GENERAL TRANSFER WEBSITESCheck out CollegeTransfer.net. Can we say “pay dirt”?! This site provides some amazing guidance for transfer students coming from all categories – including community college, four-year, international, and military. In addition to school search options, it has a “course-to-course equivalency guide” that lets you determine which courses you’ve taken at your current college will transfer to your target schools, and if your AP and CLEP credits may be accepted, as well. You can also register with the site and create a “student passport” that lets you compile your course history, compare transferability among institutions, and notify schools of your interest, all free-of-charge.Also try Transferology, a free resource for students created by the folks at CollegeSource.com. Anyone thinking of transferring can simply visit Transferology, create an account, add college courses that have been or will be taken, and click “Search for Matches.” They’ll show you a list of schools that will accept those specific courses, sorted by most credits accepted. It’s a simple way for students to see their options, and filter results by best match, distance, tuition, and more.STATE-SPECIFIC WEBSITESJust as the state websites described in the community college transfer section are useful to two-year students, these sites are invaluable to students moving from one four-year institution to another. In fact, the information on these sites can be so broad-reaching that material on one site can provide all sorts of help to students who don’t even live – or plan to transfer – to that state. Still, most of the material will be pertinent to that state’s students specifically and provide some “course equivalency” tools to help you figure out which of your classes will be credited by the school(s) you’re considering. Let’s take a look:Check out the Illinois site, ITransfer.org, as one example. It has a “Basics of Training” section that could apply to just about anyone, regardless of location. But if you’re a student transferring within the state, the goods get even better. That’s because Illinois has a state-wide initiative that uses “Transferology” – a national tool that allows students transferring either into or from an Illinois college to find which courses are likely to be accepted for credit and determine which majors are available in various schools.Or take, for example, the wealth of material available at MNTransfer.org, geared to Minnesota students. In addition to a description of the core curriculum and a listing of articulation agreements (relevant to Minnesota community college students, primarily), there’s a great “Transfer Action Plan” that could be applicable to almost any student. But, hey… it too participates in “Transferology”, allowing students to get an idea as to which of their previous courses are likely to be deemed “creditworthy” at different Minnesota schools.Finally, look at Florida’s website. Florida has a common course numbering system used by all public (and some private) postsecondary schools in the state. Equivalent courses at different institutions have the same prefix and last three digits of the course number, and, with a few exceptions, are guaranteed to transfer between participating institutions. (There are many other states with common numbering systems, too – Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, and many others. Go back to the “50-State Analysis mentioned earlier to learn if your state is among them.)The basic point is that state-specific sites provide an abundance of tools and material to help those moving between four-year schools. Please don’t overlook this important resource.COLLEGE WEBSITESLike, duh. At some point, you’re going to need to go to the schools’ websites too. (In fact, we hope you will have already done some sleuthing around these websites to determine the basic admissions requirements, as recommended earlier). Nowhere else will you find the breadth and depth of information on your particular target institution, including details regarding degree programs, admission requirements, submission guidelines, application deadlines, transfer advisory services – and credit evaluation tools.Naturally, you’ll be going to the schools’ sites that are relevant to you, but take a quick look at the type of credit-related information and resources you’re likely to find:University of Michigan/Ann Arbor. Included among U.S. News & World Report’s “Top 50 Colleges,” the University of Michigan has a “credit transfer equivalency tool” that allows you to identify which courses at your current institution will be accepted for credit. Courses are listed by name on a school-by-school basis.University of Texas at Austin. Look at its website, and you’ll find both an automated transfer equivalency database of 220,000 transfer credit evaluations and an interactive degree audit that lets you see how courses taken at other institutions might apply to a degree at UT.University of Oregon also has a “transfer course equivalency” tool that allows you to look up courses on an individual basis. Beyond that, it also participates in the Transferology tool mentioned earlier and includes a “Degree Evaluation Program Plan” through which you can also evaluate your previous courses and determine how they will count toward degree completion.COLLEGE TRANSFER ADVISOR OR OFFICEFinally, virtually all four-year schools have advisors or offices to help students arriving “mid-stream.” Although you’ll be in contact with them once you’ve been accepted, you can certainly call or email before that point if you need clarification of the school’s course equivalency tool(s) or any other aspect of the admissions process.AfterwordIn ClosingWe’ve covered a great deal of ground, providing you with a wide range of resources to help you transfer successfully to a school that meets your needs and will accept most (or even all) of your credits. So as you begin this next step in your education, keep in mind that you’ve got plenty of company… and plenty of places to turn for guidance and advice.All the best of success to you as you continue your educational journey! NOTE: Although we believe the information above was correct as of date of publication, the content is provided for informational purposes only. We suggest readers verify the current accuracy through the links provided or via official sources.Works Cited (in addition to the links throughout the article)Attewell, Paul. Monaghan, David B. The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. “The Community College Route to the Bachelor’s Degree”. First published online in Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2014.College Board. “Education Pays 2013: The Benefits of Higher Eduction for Individuals and Society”. Accessed online, 2015.Lederman, Doug. “The Community College Pipeline”. Insider Higher Ed. Published online, 2012.National Student Clearinghouse. Snapshot Report. “The Community College Pipeline”. Published online, 2012.Student Clearinghouse. Snapshot Report. “Degree Attainmnent”. Published online, 2012.Transferology. TransferologyU.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. “Transferability of Post-Secondary Credits Following Student Transfer or Coenrollement”. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2014.U.S. News & World Report. Best Colleges. National University Rankings. Accessed online, 2015.

In his 1882 work Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft (i.e. The Gay Science), the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously declared:“Gott is tot! Gott bleibt tot! Und wir haben ihn getötet! Wie trösten wir uns, die Mörder aller Mörder? Das Heiligste und Mächtigste, was die Welt bisher besaß, es ist unter unsern Messern verblutet—wer wischt dies Blut von uns ab? Mit welchem Wasser könnten wir uns reinigen?”In English, this means:“God is dead! God remains dead! And we have murdered him! How do we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? The holiest and mightiest thing that the world so far has possessed, it has bled to death under our knives—who will wash this blood off from us? With what water could we purify ourselves?”When he wrote this, Nietzsche did not mean that God had literally died, but rather that modern science had disproven his existence and human beings had entered into a new, secular age. Nietzsche believed that humans needed to find something to replace God to provide life with meaning.Few academics today agree with everything Nietzsche believed, but they do generally seem to agree that, in the western industrialized world in the twenty-first century, religion is no longer important in most people’s lives and secularism and rationality now generally reign supreme. This notion, however, is entirely mistaken. Traditional religions of all kinds are, in fact, thriving in the western world, especially here in the United States, and belief in the supernatural remains widespread.The notion of “disenchantment”The Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor writes in a summary of his book A Secular Age published in 2008:“Almost everyone can agree that one of the big differences between us and our ancestors of five hundred years ago is that they lived in an enchanted world, and we do not; at the very least, we live in a much less enchanted world.”By this, he means that people five hundred years ago saw supernatural forces at work in everything and they perceived even the most commonplace and natural events as having supernatural causes; whereas, today, even people who are religious don’t usually perceive supernatural forces as being at work in everyday life.This is a notion that seems to be common among scholars. For instance, last year I took a class about Byzantine history in which the professor memorably described the Byzantines as “more religious than any modern person is really capable of understanding”—implying not only that the modern world is more secular than the medieval world the Byzantines inhabited, but that even those people who are still religious are incapable of truly comprehending just how religious the Byzantines were.ABOVE: Byzantine fresco from the cathedral at Ohrid dated to the eleventh century AD depicting Saint Basileios of Kaisareia consecrating the EucharistScholars’ perception versus realityI have had several other experiences in which professors have seemed to speak as though religion is more-or-less a thing of the past, something that it is inherently difficult for modern students to understand and relate to. This attitude has always sort of puzzled me. I think that these professors must have had a very different experience growing up than I did.I grew up in a rural area outside a relatively small, very conservative town in northern Indiana. The house where I grew up is surrounded by vast cornfields and soy bean fields on all sides. My high school was very small; my graduating class had only 117 students. Almost everyone I knew growing up was Christian, including all my teachers and nearly all the students in my classes. In my experience, Christianity was always the norm and irreligion was an aberration.This very conservative Christian atmosphere hasn’t really changed. In the town where I grew up, there is still a church on nearly every street corner and churches are still integral to community life for most people. I imagine that this probably is not the environment that most university professors were raised in.As I discuss in this article from April 2020, the notion popular among Evangelical Christians that public universities are dominated by evil atheist professors hellbent on destroying their students’ religious beliefs in completely false. Nonetheless, I do think that some professors fail to fully understand how prevalent religious belief is in the world today and how important these beliefs are to many people.ABOVE: Photograph I took on 27 May 2020 of the road leading away from my parents’ houseModern belief in God, divine intervention, and prayerThere is some truth to the idea expressed by Charles Taylor and my Byzantine history professor. For instance, it is certainly true that the percentage of people in the United States and other western countries who self-identify with organized religion is indeed declining. Likewise, irreligiosity is undoubtedly more common today than it was five hundred years ago.Nonetheless, the conventional narrative that religion is dying out is more wrong than right. Indeed, although the percentage of the people in the United States who identify as Christian is declining, the actual total number of Christians is increasing—just not as quickly as the population. Meanwhile, worldwide, the percentage of people who are Christian is actually growing. Christianity may be declining overall in the western industrialized world, but it is actually rapidly growing in Africa, Asia, and South America.Furthermore, surveys consistently show that the overwhelming majority of people in the United States still believe in the supernatural aspects of religion, particularly those associated with Christianity. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2014, at that time, 89% of people in the United States said that they believed in God and 63% said that they were “absolutely certain” that God exists.Think about that for a moment: It’s been nearly a century and a half since Nietzsche wrote “God is dead,” but yet nine in ten Americans say they believe in him and nearly two thirds say they are “absolutely certain” he exists. If God died in 1882, then, clearly, most Americans haven’t gotten the memo.Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by Gallup in 2017, 24% of Americans at that time said that the Bible was “the actual word of God to be taken literally.” An additional 47% said that it was “the inspired word of God,” but that not everything in it was to be taken literally. Altogether, according to the survey, about 71% of Americans said that the Bible was, in some sense, the inspired word of God.ABOVE: The Creation of Adam, painted c. 1512 by the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo. Americans overwhelmingly agree that God exists in some form.Interestingly, a survey conducted in 2018 by Pew Research Center found that the vast majority of people in the United States who identified themselves as “religiously unaffiliated” still said that they believed in some form of higher power.The survey found that 17% of people who described themselves as “religiously unaffiliated” said that they believed in “God as described in the Bible” and an additional 53% said that they believed in some other “higher power” or “spiritual force.” Only 27% said that they didn’t believe in any kind of God or higher power.Interestingly, the survey found that 65% of self-described agnostics and 18% of self-identified atheists said that they believed in some kind of “higher power” or “spiritual force.” This is fascinating because it shows that, apparently, a substantial number of people who see themselves as atheists or agnostics haven’t totally rejected the idea of a higher power, but rather merely the Christian conception of God.ABOVE: Chart from Pew Research Center showing that the majority of people who self-identify as religiously unaffiliated still say that they believe in God or a higher power of some kindNow, at this point, some people might object, “Ok, so most people in the U.S. still believe in God—but probably very few of those people actually think that God is actively involved in worldly affairs.” Survey data contradicts this objection, however. Surveys have found that, by a whole range of metrics, the overwhelming majority of people who believe in God also believe that he is actively involved in their lives.Pew Research Center’s 2018 survey found that 59% of people in the United States who had a high school diploma or less who said that they believed in God or a higher power also said that they believed that God determines what happens to them all the time or most of the time. Thirty-three percent of people in the United States with a college degree who said they believed in God said they believed this as well. In other words, even among college graduates, belief in divine providence is still alive and well.The survey also found that 85% of people with a high school education or less who said that they believed in God also said that they believed that God had protected them at some point in their life. Sixty-six percent of college graduates who said they believed in God said the same.Things get even stranger, though; 30% of believers in God with a high school education or less and 23% of believers in God with a college degree said that they believed that God sometimes spoke to them personally. It is unclear how many of these people meant this metaphorically and how many of them meant it literally, but this data shows that, apparently, a person believing that God talks to them isn’t nearly as unusual as they might sound.ABOVE: Chart from Pew Research Center showing the percentages of people who believe in God who agree with various statements about himWhile people who believe that God talks to them may be a minority, surveys indicate that the overwhelming majority of Americans talk to God. According to Pew Research Center, roughly 55% of all people in the United States say that they pray at least once every day. An additional 16% of people say that they pray at least once every week and an additional 6% say that they pray at least once every month.In other words, for most Americans, prayer is not at all an archaic thing that no one does anymore, but rather an integral part of everyday life. (Is it any surprise, then, that a Gallup poll conducted in 2010 found that, at that time, 57% of Americans supported having a National Day of Prayer, while only 5% opposed it?)ABOVE: Chart from Pew Research Center showing that the overwhelming majority of people in United States pray at least once a weekModern belief in angels, demons, Satan, and demonic possessionMost Americans don’t just believe in God, divine intervention, and prayer; they overwhelmingly believe in all sorts of other supernatural entities associated with the Abrahamic religions. An Associated Press-GfK survey conducted in December 2011 found that roughly 77% of all Americans said that they believed in the existence of angels. Fascinatingly, the survey found that the majority of Americans who self-identified as irreligious still said that they believed in angels. In fact, the survey found that over two fifths of those who said they had never attended church in their life said they believed in angels.It has often been claimed that most people nowadays don’t believe in Satan or demons, but, at least in the United States, this is not at all the case. A YouGov poll conducted in 2013 found that 57% of all people in the United States said they believed in the existence of a literal Satan. An additional 15% of people said they weren’t sure if Satan existed. Only 28% of people were willing to definitively say that Satan does not exist.The same survey found that 51% of all people in the United States believed that human beings could be possessed by Satan or another evil spiritual entity. An additional 20% of people said they weren’t sure if Satan could possess people. Only 28% were willing to definitively say that people cannot be possessed by Satan.ABOVE: Chart from YouGov showing that the majority of people in the United States believe that Satan is real and that he has the power to possess peopleIn fact, there is at least some evidence that, over the course of the past twenty years, exorcisms have actually grown in popularity. Here is an article published in The New Republic in 2015 talking about a rise in exorcisms more generally and here is an article published in The Atlantic in 2018 talking about a rise in Catholic exorcisms in particular.If it is indeed true that exorcisms are becoming increasingly popular, there are several factors that are probably at play. One factor is that the gradual decline of Christianity and the growth of secularism and religious pluralism may be contributing to a general feeling of religious unease among Christians.Historically, when confronted with this kind of religious unease, Christians have tended to see the forces of Satan as being more at work in the world. In the wake of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, Christians in western Europe became obsessed with Satan, demons, and possession in a way that they hadn’t been for most of the Middle Ages. (As I discuss in this article from October 2018, it was actually in the aftermath of the Reformation that the hysteria over witchcraft swept across western Europe.)Another factor is that portrayals of exorcisms have become increasingly common in popular culture. On some level, the growing presence of exorcisms in books, movies, and television probably reflects the growing interest in real-life exorcisms, but there may also be something of a feedback loop going on.In other words, it may be the case that people are interested in exorcisms, so they make books, movies, and television shows about them. Then those books, movies, and television shows lead more people to become interested in exorcisms, thereby leading more people to write stories involving exorcisms.ABOVE: Screenshot of the demon Meg Masters being exorcized from Supernatural, season one, episode twenty-two “Devil’s Trap.” The growing prominence of exorcisms in popular culture may be linked to the growing popularity of exorcisms in real life.Some personal experiencesI personally grew up with people who sincerely believed that God and Satan are actively involved in the world. When I was in second grade, I had a friend who made a “spellbook” for a game that we played at recess. It was full of silly fantasy “spells” that he had made up that were supposed to do things like summon magic fireballs and that sort of thing.He gave some pages of it to one of my other friends for him to look after. That friend’s parents, who were very devout Evangelical Protestants, discovered that he was keeping pages about magic. They were horrified, so they ran the pages through a paper shredder. They warned him that magic comes from the Devil and that he should have nothing to do with magic in the future—not even pretend magic, since Satan uses fantasy magic to entice people into practicing real magic.I later got to know that friend’s father rather well. I discovered that he was actually a very caring and thoughtful man. I also found out that his own parents had been even more religiously strict than he was. He mentioned to me once that he had never even been allowed to play cards when he was growing up because his parents said that playing cards were “tools of the Devil.” He commented that he never gave much credit to this idea, since he figured that, if playing cards were the best weapons the Devil had, it was hard to explain why he was so powerful.When I was in around third or fourth grade, I remember a girl in my youth group at church telling a story about how her own grandfather had personally encountered an angel. At the time, none of us thought that her story was at all crazy or implausible.When I was in fifth grade, there was a tornado warning for our county while we were at school and we had to take shelter in one of the sixth grade classrooms. Many of the students were scared, but one of the sixth graders spoke up and tried to comfort everyone by talking about the power of God.He assured us that God controls everything that happens and that he has a unique purpose for every single person and, if any of us died during the tornado, that meant that person had already fulfilled the purpose God had made them for. For some people, this may not seem very comforting, but I found it comforting at the time and I know some of the other students did too.Prayer was also a very important part of public life in the community where I grew up. Whenever we had any kind of community event like a Veterans Day program, an awards ceremony, a graduation ceremony, or an induction ceremony, the event always started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a group prayer. We were all accustomed to it and no one ever protested. We also always prayed at family get-togethers and on Boy Scout camping trips.Belief in the supernatural among present-day Evangelicals and PentecostalsAmong Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestants, these sorts of beliefs are especially prominent. Pentecostalism in particular places a very strong emphasis on the alleged influence of God, angels, Satan, and demons in the human world. They also place a strong emphasis on alleged miracles and spiritual gifts, such as the ability to speak in tongues, the ability to perform exorcisms, and the ability to heal people through the power of faith.Evangelicals and Pentecostals often see even the most minor of occurrences as being caused by God, angels, demons, or Satan. For instance, here is an excerpt from the book The Clashing of Two Swords by Renee Fotch, published in 2013 by WestBow Press, in which the author literally says that Satan hides people’s Bibles to keep them from reading them and that, if someone picks up a Bible, he uses his demonic powers to distract them or make them feel sleepy:“Why aren’t stores sold out of the book [i.e. the Bible] as fast as they get it in? Why are there not fights and wars breaking out everywhere with anyone who dares take it away from us? Why? Because we are in a spiritual battle, that’s why! Satan does not care if we go to church. As long as we don’t pick up that Bible, he is good, because he knows if we do we will find out who we are.”“He doesn’t want us to know who we are when we become one of God’s children or the authority that Jesus gave us over him. He keeps our Bibles hidden in our houses, because if we find out what it says, his kingdom will be destroyed. He knows that he has no power over us, but we don’t. If we do pick up a Bible, he makes us sleepy, or distracts us or makes us busy. He despises Jesus and every single one of us.”To me, this description honestly makes the Devil seem more petty than powerful. You would think that, if Satan were really the supreme lord of all evil, he’d have more important things to do than sneaking around individual people’s houses and hiding their Bibles from them—like, you know, inspiring wars, murders, and genocides.Nonetheless, this example is highly illustrative of what many Evangelicals and Pentecostals believe. They see the interventions of God and Satan everywhere. If a person falls asleep while reading the Bible, a preacher gets a flat tire, or a projector isn’t working at a convention, they assume it must be the work of Satan. Not all Evangelicals and Pentecostals necessarily think like this, but many of them do.Far from being an obscure fringe movement, though, Pentecostalism is actually the fastest-growing form of Christianity worldwide. It is becoming especially popular in South America and in sub-Saharan Africa. Part of the reason why people find it so appealing is because of its emphasis on the idea of supernatural forces being at work in people’s everyday lives.The idea that most religious people today don’t think that supernatural forces are at work in everyday life simply isn’t true. Even the majority of religious people with college degrees still believe that God is actively involved in their lives in some fashion. There can be no doubt that belief in the supernatural aspects of religion is alive and well, even in the industrialized west.ABOVE: Photograph of a Catholic priest performing an exorcism in Italy sometime around 1950 or thereaboutsBelief in ghosts—an undying belief about the supernaturalFurthermore, while some forms of traditional religion may be very slowly declining in the industrialized west, many other supernatural beliefs don’t appear to be fading at all and some may actually be growing. For instance, in the industrialized west, belief in ghosts remains as popular as ever.We don’t traditionally tend to think of belief in ghosts as a religious belief. This is probably because Christianity is the dominant religion in the west and ghosts are entities that have never fit well into orthodox Christian theology. Traditionally, Christianity has taught that, when a person dies, their soul goes to Heaven or Hell. (For Catholics, there is also Purgatory.) Christian theologians have generally either rejected belief in ghosts as a silly pagan superstition or concluded that ghosts are actually demons who are merely impersonating the spirits of the dead.Most Christian authorities today still reject the existence of ghosts. Even the Evangelical Protestant apologetic ministry Answers in Genesis, which is known for defending all sorts of ludicrous ideas about miracles and the supernatural, unambiguously concludes that belief in ghosts is incompatible with Christian teachings. An article published on their official website in July 2010 proclaims:“No evidence has produced a single fact that should sway a Christian into believing that the spirits of deceased people can loiter on earth. In light of the Bible, the only conclusion is that ghost sightings are either the figments of overactive imaginations, or else they are demons.”Historically, though, ghosts have been tied into all kinds of different religious belief systems.Belief in ghosts is extremely ancient. Many people in ancient Sumer in the third millennium BC believed in spirits of the dead known as “gidim.” These entities were widely believed to haunt certain locations in the world of the living. The Sumerians believed that the gidim of those who had died particularly violent deaths were especially likely to come back to haunt the living. The Sumerians used religious rituals to keep the gidim at bay, including magical practices and sacrificial offerings.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a Neo-Assyrian bronze statuette of the demon Pazuzu dated to the eighth century BC or thereabouts. The ancient Mesopotamians used images of Pazuzu to scare away gidim and other evil spirits.The ancient Greeks and Romans told ghost stories that sound remarkably similar to the sorts of ghost stories that people still tell today. For instance, the Greek biographer and Middle Platonist philosopher Ploutarchos of Chaironeia (lived c. 46 – c. 120 AD) retells a ghost story from his hometown of Chaironeia at the beginning of his Life of Kimon. He writes, as translated by Bernadotte Perrin for the Loeb Classical Library:“Then Damon, who was ravaging the country with predatory forays and threatening the city, was induced by embassies and conciliatory decrees of the citizens to return, and was appointed gymnasiarch. But soon, as he was anointing himself in the vapour-bath, he was slain. And because for a long while thereafter certain phantoms appeared in the place, and groans were heard there, as our Fathers tell us, the door of the vapour-bath was walled up, and to this present time the neighbours think it the source of alarming sights and sounds. Descendants of Damon's family (and some are still living, especially near Stiris in Phocis, Aeolians in speech) are called ‘Asbolomeni,’ or ‘Besooted,’ because Damon smeared himself with soot before he went forth to do his deed of murder.”Similarly, the Greek travel writer Pausanias (lived c. 110 – c. 180 AD) claims in his Guide to Greece 1.32.4 that the battlefield at Marathon was still haunted by the ghosts of the warriors who fought there in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Here is the passage from Pausanias, as translated by W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Ormerod:“At Marathon every night you can hear horses neighing and men fighting. No one who has expressly set himself to behold this vision has ever got any good from it, but the spirits are not wroth with such as in ignorance chance to be spectators. The Marathonians worship both those who died in the fighting, calling them heroes, and secondly Marathon, from whom the parish derives its name, and then Heracles, saying that they were the first among the Greeks to acknowledge him as a god.”People today are still telling stories remarkably like the ones that Ploutarchos and Pausanias were telling around 1,800 years ago. For the ancient Greeks, though, ghosts were most certainly a part of the religious experience. It was believed that certain rituals, such as the ritual of burial, could keep ghosts from coming back to haunt the living.These beliefs did not fade after the advent of Christianity; while some Christian theologians may have disbelieved in ghosts, lay Christians everywhere continued to believe in their existence. The Christian writer Constantius of Lyon, who was writing in the late fifth century AD, records a ghost story in his De Vita Germani that is almost identical to a story recorded by the Roman writer Pliny the Younger (lived 61 – c. 113 AD) in his letter “To Sura.”In both stories, the hero stays in a house that is supposed to be haunted and, at night, he encounters the apparition of a shackled man who has been improperly buried. The apparition shows the hero the site where his bones are. The next morning, the hero digs up the ghost’s bones to discover they too are shackled. The hero then removes the shackles and gives the bones a proper burial with the proper rituals, allowing the man’s spirit to rest in peace.ABOVE: Illustration from c. 1900 of a famous ghost story recorded by Pliny the Elder in his letter “To Sura” in which the philosopher Athenodorus Canaanites encounters the ghost of a chained and emaciated manThis ancient pagan belief has survived to the present day virtually unchanged. Ghost stories, mediums, and séances became wildly popular in both the United States and Europe in the late nineteenth century. This spiritualist movement continued into the twentieth century. As Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm documents in his book The Myth of Disenchantment, even the avowed atheist Sigmund Freud (lived 1856 – 1939) devoted a large part of his time to investigating spirit mediums and the occult; Freud even took a turn as a spirit medium himself.A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in December 2012 found that 45% of American adults said that they definitely believed in ghosts and an additional 23% said that they weren’t sure if they believed in ghosts. The same survey found that 28% of Americans said that they themselves had personally seen a ghost and an additional 13% said that they were unsure.A survey conducted by Chapman University in 2018 found that around 58% of Americans agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “places can be haunted by spirits.” A survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2015 found that around 18% of Americans believed that they had personally encountered a ghost. The same survey found that around 29% of Americans believed they had been in contact with the dead, but not necessarily in the form of an full-on apparition.ABOVE: Chart from Pew Research Center showing the percentages of Americans who claim to have had various experiences involving ghostsIt seems that the majority of American adults believe in ghosts—at least to some degree—and somewhere between one fifth and one third of Americans believe that they have personally encountered a ghost. You might think that this only applies to the United States, but similar statistics apply in the United Kingdom.A poll conducted by YouGov in October 2014 found that 39% of people in Britain said that they believed houses could be haunted by supernatural beings, 34% said that they believed in ghosts, 28% said that they had personally “felt the presence of a supernatural being,” and 9% said that they had personally communicated with the dead.ABOVE: Chart from YouGov showing that a large percentage of British people believe in ghostsAliens, anyone?People aren’t just continuing to believe in old religious ideas, though; there are also new supernatural phenomena that people today believe in that people two hundred years ago never would have even considered.For instance, we don’t tend to think of the belief that extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth as a religious one, but this very belief is actually an integral part of many new religious movements, such as Raëlism and Scientology. Furthermore, it resembles traditional religious beliefs like the ones I have just talked about because it is a thing that people believe in without scientific evidence.Chapman University’s 2018 survey of paranormal beliefs in the United States found that roughly 41% of Americans agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “aliens have visited Earth in our ancient past” and roughly 35% of Americans agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “aliens have come to Earth in modern times.”What is especially interesting is that fact that belief in intelligent extraterrestrial beings seems to be just as common in Europe as it is in the United States. A YouGov survey from 2015 found that 56% of people in Germany and 52% of people in Britain said that they believed that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, compared to 54% of people in the United States.The same poll found that, of those British people who said they believed in intelligent extraterrestrial life, 19% agreed with the statement “Intelligent ET life has contacted or visited Earth, but long before the development of human civilisation.” Seventeen percent of British people who said they believed in intelligent extraterrestrial life agreed with the statement “Intelligent ET life has already contacted us but the government has covered it up.”In other words, even in Europe, a very large percentage of people believe that aliens have visited Earth—even though there is no substantial scientific evidence to suggest this. This is made all the more remarkable by the fact that, while some people have been speculating about the possible existence of life on other planets since ancient times, belief in extraterrestrial beings that have visited Earth has only become widespread within the past two hundred years.ABOVE: Chart from YouGov showing that the majority of people in Germany, the United States, and Britain say they believe that intelligent extraterrestrial beings existCivic religionThe evidence clearly shows that, contrary to what many scholars assume, belief in supernatural phenomena associated with religion is absolutely thriving in the industrialized west, especially in the United States, where people overwhelmingly believe in God, Satan, angels, demons, and ghosts. This is only the very tip of the iceberg, though; religious ideas are evident in all aspects of modern American life.One area in which American religiosity is especially evident is in the realm of politics. The United States government may ostensibly be secular, but almost everything about American patriotic culture is, in some sense, religious. Sociologists have a name for the religious manifestation of American patriotism; they call it “American civil religion.”American civil religion is rather syncretic and it has been heavily influenced by both Christianity and Greco-Roman polytheism. It’s also not always explicitly religious; sometimes the religious ideas are hidden just below the surface and only become evident when they are closely examined.Let’s take the American flag as an example. When Colin Kaepernick began kneeling before the flag during the national anthem in 2016 rather than standing with his hand over his heart, millions of people were shocked and horrified—more shocked and horrified than they ever were about police brutality or systemic racism. Why? It’s because, for most Americans, the flag isn’t just a symbol of our country; it’s a religious symbol.The United States has an official list of rules for how the flag is supposed to be treated, known as the “United States Flag Code.” Most people don’t follow these rules. For instance, 4 U.S. Code § 8(i) states:“The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.”4 U.S. Code § 8(j) states:“No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations.”Despite the fact that some of the rules for how the flag is supposed to be treated are often violated, many Americans still have a strong sense of conviction that the flag must be treated with the utmost reverence. Many Americans see the American flag as literally analogous to the cross in terms of its sacred significance. Thus, any action that can even remotely be construed as “disrespecting the flag” is offensive to them.The United States is far from the only country in which people regard the national flag with reverence and awe, but people in this country are definitely more likely regard the flag as, in some sense, holy than people in some other countries. The United States has other sacred symbols aside from just the flag itself, including the Great Seal and the American bald eagle.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the American flag flying October 2011Much like traditional Christianity, the United States has its own canon of sacred texts: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address. All of these documents were originally seen as secular, but, over the centuries, they have become widely seen as sacred and even, in some sense, divinely inspired. They are routinely referenced and quoted in political discourse in much the same way that the Bible is cited by Christians.Alongside these sacred texts, the United States has its own sacred hymns, such as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The United States even has its own sacred rituals: the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance every morning by every student in every public school across the country, the singing of the national anthem before every major public event, the inauguration ceremony, and all sorts of others.In addition to all these things I have listed, the United States also has a whole pantheon of deified past leaders. In the exact same way that the ancient Romans built temples and erected monumental statues of past emperors, the United States builds temples and erects monumental statues of past leaders—and we do this in a manner that blatantly and unmistakably echoes the practice of the ancient Romans.Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. and the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial in Philadelphia are literally temples built in the Greek style. Inside, they bear colossal cult statues of the deified former presidents that are meant to be viewed by visitors with awe and worship.The only difference whatsoever between how the United States honors its past leaders and how the ancient Romans honored their former emperors is that we don’t literally bow down and worship their cult statues and we don’t literally make sacrifices to them in their temples. In every other aspect, we worship them as gods. They have their faces on our coins, they have their own sacred days, and we constantly ask ourselves what sides they would take on current political issues as a means of deciding which sides we ourselves should take.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the Temple to the Deified Abraham Lincoln (a.k.a “the Lincoln Memorial”) in Washington D.C.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the cult statue of the Deified Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln MemorialABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the Temple to the Deified Thomas Jefferson (a.k.a. the Jefferson Memorial) in Washington D.C.ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the cult statue of the Deified Thomas Jefferson inside the Jefferson MemorialABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of the cult statue of the deified Benjamin Franklin in the Benjamin National Memorial in PhiladelphiaAmerican civil religion goes deeper than all these things, though. Many Americans tend to think about their country in deeply religious terms. They see the United States as a special nation chosen by God to serve as a “city on a hill” and to enlighten the whole world through its example. They see the United States as having a sacred mission to spread peace, justice, and democracy (or, if you’re one of those people, republicanism) throughout the world.American soldiers who die in battle are routinely described as heroes who have voluntarily laid down their lives for a cause in a manner that is deeply reminiscent of how Christians have traditionally described martyrs of the faith.American civil religion even influences people’s sense of morality. Values such as freedom, justice, equality, and democracy are generally seen as “American” and therefore good; whereas ideas that run contrary to these values are traditionally seen as “un-American” and therefore bad.Both liberals and conservatives generally agree that the values I have just listed are virtues, but they disagree about what these terms actually refer to. For instance, does the term “freedom” only refer to freedom from external constraint (i.e. negative liberty) or does it refer to a state in which a person possesses the resources necessarily to fulfill one’s desires (i.e. positive liberty)?ABOVE: Freedom from Want, painted in 1943 by the American painter Norman Rockwell, illustrating the idea of positive libertyReligion and current eventsEven if we look at the events going on right now, we can see the enormous influence that religion (especially Christianity) is having. On the one hand, conservatives who oppose the Black Lives Matter movement are trying to portray themselves as pious Christians and the protesters as radical atheist fanatics. Even Donald Trump, who is arguably the least Christian person ever to live, has tried to get in on the action.On 1 June 2020, Donald Trump had peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square dispersed with tear gas and rubber bullets fifteen minutes before curfew so that he could walk across the street to stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church and hold up an unopened Bible to prove to his supporters that he is a true Christian. Needless to say, the stunt didn’t go over very well, but the intentions behind it are abundantly clear.ABOVE: Photograph of Donald Trump standing with a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church on 1 June, immediately after he had Lafayette Square cleared of peaceful protesters using tear gas and rubber bulletsTrump himself isn’t the only one who has tried to do this, though. On 22 June 2020, Trump’s legal advisor Jenna Ellis tweeted this:Notice how Ellis explicitly ties her identity as a patriotic American with her identity as a Christian and tries to portray the Black Lives Matter protesters as un-American and un-Christian. This is an excellent illustration of how American conservatives see Christianity and Americanness as inextricably intertwined. Also notice how she tries to present conservative Christians as a righteous minority that the evil Black Lives Matter protesters want to oppress.The other side: the Black Lives Matter movement and religionDespite conservatives’ best efforts to paint the protesters as godless communists, it is clear that there is a very strong Christian element within the Black Lives Matter movement itself. Far from calling for the “cancellation” of Christianity, many of the protesters are devout Christians themselves.If you look at pictures of the demonstrators, you will see people holding signs with explicitly religious slogans such as “GOD didn’t give us this breath for YOU to take it away,” “God is against injustice I stand behind God,” “You can’t say you LOVE God & hate his creation,” and so on.ABOVE: Photograph from News 9 of protesters in Norman, Oklahoma on 1 JuneABOVE: Photograph from MassLive of protesters in Boston on 2 JuneNot only are many of the current protesters themselves Christians, but they are also consciously following in the footsteps of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. Some of the most prominent leaders of that movement were black Christian religious leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (lived 1929 – 1968) and Gardner C. Taylor (lived 1918 – 2015). These leaders’ Christian beliefs and ideals are thus indirectly shaping the current movement.It’s worth noting that many religious leaders—both black and non-black—are involved in the current protests as well. For instance, the black Baptist minister Al Sharpton gave a televised eulogy at George Floyd’s funeral on 9 June in which he explicitly declared that God is on the Black Lives Matter movement’s side:“It’s time that we reclaim the righteous in this country. Well Reverend, we don’t know if we got the money and we got the political power. Well, we got the vote, and we got something that we had before we had the vote. We had God on our side. That’s why, when they was even in slavery, they used to have church out in the slave quarters, because they understood that if they called on God, that God would answer prayer.”“And the same God that brought us from chattel slavery is still on the throne. The same God that brought us from the back of the bus is still on the throne. The same God that brought us from Jim Crow is still on the throne. And if we are right, he’ll fight our battle, and we’ll put George’s name in history where they say, ‘That’s the one that they shouldn’t have touched. That’s the neck they shouldn’t have bent down on.’”This narrative of God siding with the righteous oppressed against the evil oppressors is one of the oldest narratives in both Judaism and Christianity. It appears in the Book of Exodus, which portrays God supporting the righteous people of Israel, who are being oppressed by the wicked Egyptians.Jesus himself is recorded in the gospels to have preached that those in power are in power are abusive and that those who are oppressed are the ones who are truly righteous. In Mark 10:25, Jesus is portrayed as saying, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” In Mark 10:31, he is portrayed as saying, “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”In Luke 6:20–26, Jesus says that the poor, the hungry, and the oppressed are on the side of God and that the wealthy, the content, and the respected are the enemies of God. In Luke 16:19–31, he tells a parable about an evil rich man, who dies and is sentenced to burn in Sheol for abusing the poor, and a righteous poor man named Lazarus, who dies and is carried off by angels to be with Abraham.In 2 Corinthians 4:4, the apostle Paul goes even further than Jesus, calling Satan “the god of this world,” implying that those who are in power in the world literally worship Satan. Early Christians saw themselves as a righteous, oppressed minority living in a world of evil oppressors. (This is part of why martyr narratives are so central to Christianity.) Oppression narratives exist outside of Judaism and Christianity, but they have historically held a special resonance in these religions.A martyr narrativeThis narrative of God siding with the oppressed against the oppressors is not the only idea that is prominent in both traditional Christianity and in the Black Lives Matter movement, though. Martyr narratives are also common to both.A martyr is not necessarily someone who is morally perfect, but they are someone who is perceived as generally decent and undeserving of death. The martyr is then killed, usually in a horrifyingly brutal way. After the martyr’s death, certain locations, such as the spot where they died and the place where they are buried often attract large crowds of people seeking to pay respect to them.The murder of George Floyd fits this model perfectly. He wasn’t a perfect man, but almost everyone agrees that he didn’t deserve to die the way that he did. His brutal murder at the hands of a police officer led to widespread public outcry and, within a few days after his death, the site of his death had transformed into a shrine with a mural of his face decorating the nearest wall and offerings for him laid out all over the ground.Martyr narratives occur in all cultures around the world, but they are particularly prominent in Christianity.ABOVE: Photograph from this article from KSAT of the site of George Floyd’s death, showing the mural, the signs, and the flowers left at the siteIconoclasmThere’s another element here that ties the Black Lives Matter movement to Christianity: iconoclasm. For our purposes, I will define iconoclasm as “the deliberate destruction or removal of public images of figures who have been traditionally revered in service of an ideological mission or goal.” Historically, iconoclasm has been closely associated with the Abrahamic religions.As I discuss in this article I wrote in April 2020, during the Christianization of the Roman Empire in late antiquity, some Christians destroyed or vandalized statues of the traditional Greco-Roman deities. During the iconoclast periods of Byzantine history, icons of Christian saints and other traditional holy figures were deliberately destroyed.Later, during the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, Protestants destroyed or vandalized statues and other images of Roman Catholic saints. Today, protesters are destroying and vandalizing statues of Confederate leaders and other symbols of white supremacy.Conservatives have tried to portray present-day iconoclasm as evidence that the protesters have rejected American civic values. What the protesters are actually calling for, though, isn’t so much the abolition of civic values, but rather the reshaping of those values to be more inclusive.ABOVE: Photograph from this article from NBC News of protesters after having pulled down a statue of the Confederate general Albert Pike in Washington D.C.ConclusionThe western industrialized world in the twenty-first century is anything but secular. Religious ideas are woven into the very tapestry of modernity and they show up even in places where people might not expect them.I don’t believe that a completely secular world is even possible. Human beings are naturally superstitious and irrational creatures; we like our gods, our angels, our demons, our ghosts, our unseen forces of fate, our rituals and ceremonies, our sacred symbols, and our religious narratives.(NOTE: I have also published a version of this article on my website titled “The Modern World Isn’t Even Remotely Secular.” Here is a link to the version of the article on my website.)

No.I am also who are here who believes in Narendra Modi ji because of following reasons.1. His Stand Against Divisive PoliticsRight after Modi was elected as Gujarat's Chief Minister in 2002, the Godhra riots broke out in which more than 1000 Indians were killed. It was a sensitive time which he handled well enough as a first time CM.Since Independence there have been over 90 massacres and hundreds of riots. However, Gujarat was the only state to set up a court to investigate and jail the culprits. Modi had to face Special Investigation Team (SIT) probes several times after being alleged to have an active role, but was given the clean chit eventually.2. His Handling Of Terrorism And Security ThreatsThe attacks of 26/11 proved, how vulnerable our nation was to infiltration and attacks. If it were not for NSG, Army, and police the collateral damage would have been far worse.After the attack on Pathankot airbase every thing seemed to change, the terrorists had strict instructions from their Pakistani handlers to destroy Indian assets. The infiltration in the Pathankot airbase was detected by a drone that was deployed for regular patrolling. The authorities sealed the entire area and neutralized them in less than three days with minimal damage to civilian life and property.Apart from this, India is also prepping its military arsenal by entering joint partnerships with France, USA, Russia and Israel. The arsenal predominantly includes nuclear capable submarines, F-16s, rockets and choppers. These will help ensure security at Indian borders at all times.He did surgical and air strike on orgin of terrorism.3. His Lobbying For Permanent Unsc Membership For IndiaModi travelled to various countries, and was dubbed the 'NRI Prime Minister' by some. What they didn't note was that by travelling so extensively he was furthering three key agendas: improving relationships with countries, inviting investments and winning support for India's permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).After travelling and inviting ambassadors and leaders from countries like the US, Germany, Russia, France and Japan, he achieved almost everyone's support for India's UNSC bid. This support was a direct result of his efforts to showcase India's eligibility for a position on this international platform.4. Decision Making AbilitiesAt the time of his governance in Gujrat, PM Narendra Modi demonstrated his extraordinary decision making skills, a trait which isn't seen too often in Indian politicians. His non-nonsense approach in making key executive decisions and ensuring quick implementation are pivotal to his effective governance model.What he inaugurates an infrastructure project he himself handovers to citizens.5. Clear Vision For India’s FuturePM Modi has envisioned a "long jump" for changing the economic and social face of India. Keeping the poor and underprivileged in focus of all the government policies, he has come up with P2 G2 (Pro-Poor, Proactive and Good Governance) approach.At policy level, the Modi government will continue focusing on "Jan Dhan" or financial inclusion of the poor. The two new aspects are also included: "Jal Dhan" programmes for increasing agriculture network, and "Van Dhan" programmes for protecting forest resources.6. Powerful Mass AppealNarendra Modi has a huge mass appeal and there's a strong reason as to why crowds gather in large numbers to hear him. His campaigns have been multidimensional focusing on youth empowerment, fighting corruption, wiping out terrorism and much more. With an aim to replicate socio-economic success, he strives to connect with the masses on a deeper level.7. Contemporary Uniform Civil CodeAccording to Article 44 in Part IV of the Constitution of India – Directive Principles of State Policy, “The state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”This suggests that all Indians shall be governed by common law on matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, maintenance and the like. This puts an end to confusion and chaos of different religious personal laws and offers a fair dignity to every citizen. Modi has vowed to enforce a contemporary uniform civil code for harmonising tradition with today’s times.8. Abrogation Of Article 370This Article comes in Part 21 of the Constitution and pertains to the Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions. It resulted with a 1974 accord between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah which restored peace in Jammu and Kashmir. It renders political and administrative autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir in all matters except defence, atomic energy, CBI, foreign affairs, railways, ports, maritime security, elections, currency and the like. It aimed to allow time for political injury to heal but it has turned into a bargaining tool.For a healthy democracy, all states must be equal. Special status and special category likely create a sense of entitlement that hurts India. Either Article 370 must be removed or it must apply to all states.9. Rationalisation Of MinistriesModi vows to rationalise ministries and departments.it's likely that that ministries may merge to form a lean and mean cabinet. Near about 30 ministries could work more efficiently for India become more focused. The UPA had a lot of ministries which resulted in every minister doing or not doing as they pleased.10. Proactive DiplomacyModi is well on his way to expand and empower India’s pool of diplomats. Part of his proactive diplomacy has begun with the invites to neighbour countries for his swearing-in ceremony. It is refreshing to see New Delhi take charge. How the neighbours respond is of interest but it takes nothing away from the initiative. In time, Modi says he would work to regain the glory India once had. This is worth it. India was world mentor once and can still be so, with hard and intelligent work.11. 100 New CitiesThis ambitious plan needs vision, money, planning and brilliance. Shanghai has set a new benchmark for future cities. India’s new cities ought to begin from where Shanghai left off. A key aspect should be that these cities must have aesthetic value. They ought to improve on Paris and the rest of Europe at the minimum. For this, Modi and his team would need great architects.12. Bullet Train QuadrilateralWhile world is working at their levitating train technologies, India needs its bullet trains already; the engineers speak of soil and other challenges to bullet trains in India. It sounds like alibis. A nation is stuck if its people can’t travel fast. We are 50 years behind Japan on bullet trains; the world has moved on to much faster maglev trains. Five years should be the outer limit for bullet trains to start in India.13. Infrastructure Along The LACIndia drop a few steps on the developing country ladder when it comes to infrastructure because it is either nonexistent or in a shambles. Modi has said he would lay special emphasis on developing infrastructure along the LAC at Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.This means moving man and machine there and rapidly putting together super roads, bridges, communication, offices, houses and airports. China has begun work on connecting the world through high speed trains from Beijing. Surely India could at least fix its LAC act.14. Modernise 100 Most Backward DistrictsImagine the wretched parts of India teeming with activity and progress. It would be such a boost to self-esteem and confidence. All we need is integrity, skill and speed. Hopefully, the Modi government would share a list of these 100 districts first.15. Return Of The Kashmiri PanditsIt is a shame that our own have to be in exile in homeland. A safe and sound long-term return of the Kashmiri Pandits could help heal in a big way. It ought to be the first of many such correctives going all the way to the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.16. Back To BasicsThe Swacch Bharat Abhiyan is a wonderful example of how the PM has managed to reign in the children and the youth of the country to battle the issue of cleanliness and hygiene – a traditional concern of India. In the process, he has managed to introduce healthy competition by naming clean cities and clean railway stations as well, putting cleanliness on the national agenda.17. Economic LeadershipThe NaMo government’s focus on the economic development of the country is undeniable. It is here that we should let numbers do the talking. In economic growth rate of the country in 2013-14 was pegged at about 4.7 percent, a slight increase over the 4.5 percent growth of 2012-13.Compare this with the GDP growth of 7.6 percent as reported for 2015-16. The average inflation of India in 2013 was estimated at 10.92 percent and in 2016 it was estimated at about 6.00 percent.18. Empowering India“Make in India” These three words declared by the PM from the ramparts of the Red Fort woke the nation up to its potential. For years, India has been grappling with the menace of unemployment but the PM’s vision to transform India into the manufacturing hub of the world has breathed new life into about 25 different sectors. Foreign investment is pouring in with Ease of Doing Business rankings climbing steadily. Add to this Modi’s flagship campaigns – Skills India and Digital India and the nation is turning into one of the best startup incubation centers in the world.19. Leading The WorldIndia has been quite a docile follower despite its immense capabilities. Under PM Narendra Modi India seems to have broken out of its shell. Be it with regard to the BRICS bank or the PM MOdi, along with French President François Hollande, launched an alliance of over 120 nations – the Solar Alliance – at Paris COP21 climate summit. He volunteered to set up the headquarters in Gurgaon, India, once again bringing our nation to the forefront. Under NaMo, India has emerged from the shadows and taken on the lead in the global space.20. One Nation One MarketIt's been 70 years since our independence and Sardar Patel united different provinces to form a united India. The political union did turn into a reality for India but it didn't become one market. PM Modi-led Government aims to unite Indian markets to empower our producers & strengthen our consumers. With this vision, the NDA government has taken numerous initiatives to really achieve One Nation, One Market.21. Empowering Farmers For A Prosperous IndiaPM Modi-led government has laid unprecedented focus on agriculture. Several initiatives have been taken for improving productivity, safeguarding farmers and augmenting their incomes and improving their overall well-being. These significant steps of the government are helping farmers in many ways including easy availability of fertilizers, improving irrigation facilities, easy access to credit, scientific help and better price for their produce. PM Modi also aims to double farmers’ incomes by 2022 through multi-modal interventions.22. Swachh Bharat MissionWhile launching the Swachh Bharat Mission at Rajpath, New Delhi in 2014, PM Narendra Modi had said, “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019.” While spearheading the nationwide movement for cleanliness, PM Modi urged people to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a clean India. As a result of that, this campaign became successful.23. Jan Dhan – Financial InclusionWhen the Narendra Modi led government came into power in May 2014, millions of people in India didn't have a bank account. Several decades had passed but financial inclusion remained far-fetched to millions of Indians. So to ensure financial inclusion to one and all, the Jan Dhan Yojana was launched as a mission.As a result, 23.93 crore bank accounts have been opened within 2 years' span. Moreover, Rs. 41,789 crore have been deposited in these bank accounts. This will help in securing future and bringing stability to lives of millions of people with the savings they will have in their bank accounts. It has also opened doors to institutional credit who were until now affected by lenders and their high interest rates. The Jan Dhan Bank account also comes with overdraft, insurance, that are now being used widely.24. Beti Bachao, Beti PadhaoPM Modi launched Beti Bachao Beti Padhao on 22 January, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana. This mission was initiated to address the worsening Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and issues related to women empowerment over a life-cycle. It is an effort of three ministries: Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.The major elements of the scheme are Enforcement of PC & PNDT Act, nation-wide awareness and advocacy campaign and multi-sectoral action in the 100 chosen districts that are low on CSR. A strong emphasis has been laid on the change of mindset through training, sensitization, awareness raising and community mobilization on ground.25. Saansad Adarsh Gram YojanaOn 11 October 2014, Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was launched with an aim of translating the radical vision of Mahatma Gandhi about making an ideal Indian village a reality. Under this initiative, every Member of Parliament needs to adopt a Gram Panchayat and usher its overall progress thereby considering social development more important than the infrastructure. The ‘Adarsh Grams’ will turn into schools of local development and governance and will thus inspire other Gram Panchayats.By taking villagers into account and using scientific tools to utmost advantage, a Village Development Plan is drafted under the Member of Parliament’s leadership. After that, departments prepare detailed project reports and submit to the state government. State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) reviews, suggests amendments and renders priority allocation of resources. As of now, several Ministries /Departments of Government of India have amended 21 Schemes in order to prioritize the SAGY Gram Panchayat projects.26. Unleashing India’s Entrepreneurial EnergyPM Modi’s government has taken major steps to give a boost to entrepreneurship. The ‘Make In India’ initiative focuses on not only manufacturing sectors but services and infrastructure sectors as well. A 3 pronged strategy adopted by government is based on 3 C Model to work upon Compliances, Capital & Contract Enforcement.27. Powering India’s GrowthIndia is on an ambitious mission to provide electricity to 18,000 villages that continue to fraught with darkness after almost 7 decades of independence. PM Modi had announced on 15 August 2017 that all the remaining villages will be electrified within 1000 days.Rural electrification is taking place rapidly and is being done in a truly transparent way. It is worth noting that the electricity reaching the villages is accompanied by dreams, aspirations & upward mobility in life for villagers.28. Ganga Rejuvenation Project- Namami GangeThe River Ganga supports more than 600 million people, that’s about 40% of India’s population. In order to turn this vision into reality, the Government launched an integrated Ganga conservation mission called ‘Namami Gange’ to curb the ever-increasing pollution of Ganga River and revive the river. The Union Cabinet sanctioned the action plan that was proposed by Centre regarding spending Rs 20,000 crores till 2019-2020 on cleaning the river and increasing the budget by four times and with 100% central share – a central sector scheme.29. Make In India‘Make in India’ is a revolutionary initiative launched by PM Narendra Modi to give an impetus to entrepreneurship. Its four pillars are: new processes to promote ‘ease of doing business’, new and modern infrastructure for industries’ growth, new sectors (25 sectors have been identified in all the sectors) and new mindset of being a facilitator rather than a regulator.30. Unprecedented TransparencyIn the past decades, we have witnessed arbitrary decision making, corruption and discretion rather than policy dictating crucial decisions. After Supreme Court’s decision of cancelling the coal block allocations, the current government took swift action to ensure transparent and timely auctions. The Auction and Allotment revenue from 67 coal blocks have reached 3.35 lakh crores over the life of the mine.The long-time pending defence band identification was resolved swiftly and good quantity of 2100 MHz released by the Defence Ministry was put into the auction. Various rounds of auction were carried out for spectrum in 4 different bands: 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz. The approved reserve price was Rs 80277 crore but the auction ended up fetching a record of Rs.109875 crore. Apart from this, Environment Ministry began process of online submission of applications to ensure online tracking and facilitate informed, transparent, expeditious and predictable decisions on forest approval applications.Moreover, the government is working in tandem with Swiss Government and procuring case details investigated by IT Department. The Government sanctioned the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill 2015. The Provisions of the Bill include severe penalties and punishment for undisclosed foreign income and assets. It is also mandatory to quote PAN for purchase or sale of above Rs. 1 lakh.31. Connecting India like Never BeforePM Modi's government has been giving a huge boost to infrastructure. Railways, Roads, and Shipping have been the focus to augment this infrastructure and aid in connectivity. The Railway budget focuses on structural and infrastructural reforms.New trains are announced on a regular rather than annual basis.Various passenger-friendly amenities including Wi-fi on railway stations, passenger helpline (138), security helpline (182), paperless unreserved ticketing, e-catering, mobile security app and CCTV cameras for safety of women, etc have been launched. The railways will serve as a locomotive of the economy and connect mines, coasts, etc.32. Empowering Different States Equally With Boost To FederalismPM Modi has stressed on the need to leverage co-operative & competitive federalism to achieve all round growth. For a long time, we have seen a Big Brother relationship between the Centre & States. A ‘One Size Fits All’ approach had been used for years, not taking into account the heterogeneity of different states and their local requirements.The NITI Aayog was formed to further empower and strengthen the states. An important evolutionary change from the past will be replacing a Union-to-State one-way flow of policy by a genuine and continuing partnership with the states. NITI Aayog will act with speed, to provide the strategic policy vision for the government as well as deal with contingent issues.33. Putting The Indian Economy On A Fast-TrackIndia’s GDP Growth rocketed to 7.4%, which is the fastest among all the large economies of the world. Various rating agencies and think tanks have predicted that India’s growth would accelerate sharply in the next few years under the NDA Government. Banking on the strong fundamentals & reforms being undertaken by the NDA Government, Moody’s upgraded India’s rating from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ recently.When BRICS was launched, a lot of people felt that the “I” (India) does not belong to the league and India was seen with skepticism. Now, it is India which is perceived to be powering the BRICS as its growth engine.34. Smart Cities MissionSmart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with a mission to develop 100 cities all over the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the mission in collaboration with the state governments of the respective cities.35. The World Does Yoga TogetherInternational Yoga Day is celebrated annually on 21 June since its inception in 2015. An international day for yoga was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice attributed mostly to India. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his UN address suggested the date of 21 June, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares special significance in many parts of the world.36. In humanity We TrustWhen the conflict in Yemen reached its peak there were people of several nations stuck on the conflict zone. The Government of India left no stone unturned to rescue people, not only Indian but of several Nations. Several Nations sought India’s assistance in rescue operations and the scale and speed at which India’s rescue operations was unprecedented and highly impactful.37. Goods And Services Tax (GST)Earlier, because of multiple tax structures, maximum resources of transport and logistics sector were expended in maintaining paperwork. The Pollution levels have also come down with the increased speeds of the trucks. Goods are also being transported much faster. The time required to cover distances has come down drastically. Highways have become clutter-free.38. One Rank, One PensionThe implementation of OROP resulted in enhanced pension for the pensioners/family pensioners of Defence Forces. The setting up of the Judicial Committee headed by Justice L. Narasimha Reddy did help in the removal of anomalies that may arise in the implementation of OROP.39. StartUp IndiaStart-ups are now exempted from paying income tax on their profit for the first three years. The Government has introduced a simple exit policy for Start-ups along with a scheme of fast-tracking of Start-up patent applications.Eighty percent exemption in patent fee for Start-up businesses, and a self-certification based compliance system for Start-ups would be introduced for 9 labour and environment laws. The Atal Innovation Mission was also launched to give a boost to innovation.40. No Doubt A Bold Step DemonetizationDemonetization of currency means discontinuity of the said currency from circulation and replacing it with a new currency.Most of the people hailed the Modi's strong decision, while poor were shocked by the move. The overnight decision changed the life of many as black money holders were worried about the pile of cash they were sitting on. Many poor daily wage workers were left with no job and income as owners were unable to pay their daily wage.41. He believes in TeamworkPM Modi seems to attribute every bit of success to the party and their team work in the hour of need. Modi can be seen diverting all the credits coming his way to his dedicated team. “Teamwork is the essence of good governance. It is necessary to form a team within the party and also within the administrative system.”42. E-governance is easy, effective and economicalE-governance has been strongly backed by PM Narendra Modi for not only being easy, effective and economical but also because it is environment-friendly and will result in paperless offices. Technology, indeed, has the power to transform our economic potential. Bridging the digital divide, IT acts as an enabler for change.National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated with an aim to improve delivery of government services to citizens and businesses. The major activities include setting up ICT infrastructure, implementation of national and state level e-governance projects, R&D etc.43. Information Technology + Indian Talent = India TomorrowAccording to PM Narendra Modi, embracing technology cannot happen if only a few people are keen on it and the scale has to be larger. Technology has power to transform our economic potential also. IT + IT = IT. This means ‘Information technology + Indian Talent = India Tomorrow’.44. Respecting the dignity of womenOut of over 24 crore households in India, India about 10 crore households are deprived of LPG as cooking fuel and use primary cooking sources such as firewood, coal and dung cakes. The smoke produced by burning these fuels badly affects the women and children’s health and causes various respiratory disorders.Since the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in May 2016, the food fuel and housing inflation has almost halved from 6.44% in May’16 to 3.05% in October’17. This initiative aims to empower poor women who inhale unhealthy emissions from burning coal, wood and other such cooking fuels. Over 3 crore LPG connections have been released across India until now.45. Stand-Up IndiaPM Narendra Modi launched ‘Stand up India’ on 5 April 2016 to back women entrepreneurs and SC/ST communities in non-farm sector. This scheme offers bank loans of 10 lakh-1 crore repayable upto 7 years. It provides handholding support at both pre-loan stage and during operations such as registration with online platforms and e-marketplaces and sessions on best practices.46. He Interacts with People through his official app & Social MediaOur Prime Minister Narendra Modi is digital savvy and is very active on social media. In a first, the official app of PM Modi provides latest information, instant updates and allows people of India to contribute toward several tasks. By sharing ideas and suggestions, people of India get an exclusive opportunity to receive emails and messages directly from the PM. It has some features that empower citizens to make a positive difference in the society. On its thoughtful forums, one can share ideas, views and interact with a wide range of people.47. His Numerous Measures To Attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to IndiaIn three years of Modi’s governance, the inflow of FDI has considerably gone up by 38%, from $36 billion in 2013-14 to $60 billion in 2016-17. Bold policy reforms and ‘Make in India’ initiative have especially played a major role in driving FDI to India. It was even regarded as the “topmost attractive destination for foreign investment” according to a release.48. Expand scope of Food Security ActWhen National Food Security Act was rolled out by 33 states/UTs in 2016, the Centre extended its scope by making foodgrain available to India’s 12 crore “poorest of poor” for free. The poorest 2.5 crore households now get 35 kg each of highly subsidised foodgrain (rice, wheat and coarse cereals) a month under the Antoydaya Anna Yojana (AAY).49. Give Up LPG Subsidy“Give it up” campaign urged well-off sections of society to forgo LPG subsidy so that it can be utilized in giving subsidized LPG connections to the poor. This would help BPL house ladies get kitchen comfort by reducing carbon emissions due to firewood burning.50. Saubhagya on electrificationPradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana is a scheme that aims to provide electricity connections to more than 40 million households in rural and urban areas.51. Securing our nation, Restoring its prideOur Indian Army has been tough against terror and gave a strong fightback to the enemy by doing surgical strike in which it destroyed terrorist launchpads in 2016. This bold move was also backed globally. Moreover, it carried out an operation to eliminate a group of insurgents in Myanmar.52. His reforms led to Moody's upgrading India's rating for first time in 14 yearsIt’s the result of structural reforms undertaken by Modi government that the international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service upgraded India’s sovereign rating for the first time in 14 years.53. The Indigenous financial engine Mudra BankIn Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, the companies which needing funds less than Rs. 10 lacs can easily apply for loan under this scheme. It is highly beneficial for small business, non-farm sector businesses and non-corporates. In this scheme, age for filing loan is 23-28 years and the loan should be paid back before reaching 65 years’ age.54. Eco-Friendly steps taken by ModiUnder Modi government, various steps have been taken toward achieving eco-friendly goals for a sustainable future. The widely successful campaign Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Clean Ganga Mission, National Air Quality Index, Toilets Before Temples, and Clean Mission for Mount Everest.55. Modi represents New IndiaMarking 70 years of India’s independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people and outlining the vision of ‘Unify India’ (Bharat Jodo) in which he aims to build a “New India” that will be free of caste and religious differences, corruption and terrorism and where all the Indians will get access to housing, electricity and water.56. India becoming a hub of quality educationPM Modi has also set out to bring structural reforms in school and university education. The functioning of Niti Ayog that focuses on government’s mission of ‘grade-wise learning for each class’, the University Grants Commission and restructuring All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has been emphasized.57. Women & Child DevelopmentPM Modi has taken serious initiatives to provide aid to pregnant and lactating mothers for a comfortable birth. Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana provides Rs. 6000 of financial aid to pregnant mothers on their first live birth. Moreover, another scheme named Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritv Abhiyan aims to offer assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care services to all pregnant women on 9th of every month for free.58. Special gift for Meritorious Muslim girlsModi government encouraged Muslim girls to pursue higher education and those obtaining graduate degrees and have got MAEF scholarships earlier will get Rs. 15,00 as a wedding gift. This scheme has been called Shaadi Shagun.59. He works really hardPM Modi’s dream for new, better India is so vivid and his love for country is so selfless that he doesn’t even need Sundays off and some sources even say that he works tirelessly for 20 hours a day and sleeps only for about 3-4 hours.60. India can defend itself in times of terrorBold steps taken against terrorism by Modi government include carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, resuming cordon and search operations in more than 20 villages in Shopian and combing operations launched against Maoists in Chhattisgarh among many others.61. Mera Aadhaar Meri PehchanAadhar card serves as a proof of one’s identity and address anywhere in India. It helps in instantly opening bank account and obtaining monthly pension, passport in 10 days, PF money and student scholarship.62. Green Energy has got a boost under Modi regimeModi to raise solar investment target to $100 Billion by 2022. The investments will help boost the alternative energy capacity to 100,000 MW. The Government wants to raise renewable capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 from 45 gigawatts at present. The impact can already be seen with the public commute vehicles switching to electric and other renewable energy sources.Government also issued Rs 42,000 crore for afforestation with Parliament passing The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2016.63. Empowering IndiansPrime Minister Narendra Modi has lived up to his mantra of "sabka saath sabka vikas" (development for all) by empowering Indians not just in the country but also those living abroad. In the last three years, the government had managed to evacuate 1.25 lakh people from troubled places in different parts of the world64. Initiative For Women Empowerment Revolution in IndiaOut of the several schemes that the modi government launched these are a few which falls under the category of Women Empowerment:Beti Bachao Beti PadhaoThe One Stop CentreWomen HelplineNari Shakti PuraskarAnd there were few amendments in the existing women empowerment schemes too.65. Housing For AllPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship housing scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojna' came with the aim of providing 'Housing For All' by 2022. The credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) on home loans under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has now been extended till March 2019.66. No place for VIP culture in New IndiaSoon after the Union Cabinet decided to ban red beacons on VIP cars, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said people must also move away from the mindset of VIP culture. Stressing that if every person is considered important in a country of 1.25 billion people, he said India can achieve great things.67. First leader in India to connect with people through radioIn fifteen addresses of Mann ki Baat broadcast so far, more than 61,000 ideas have been received on the website and 1.43 lakh audio recordings by listeners have been received. Each month, some selected calls become a part of the broadcast. 02 June 2017, PM Narendra Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' will soon be available in regional dialects, starting with Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Jharkhand.68. His Moral values towards NationOne can say that PM Modi does what he preaches, and it is a sign of a man who is still in touch with his roots; a man who wants to advance but not at the cost of his cultural values. For PM Modi the nation comes first, maybe that’s one of the reason why he works 18 hours a day. (Narendra Modi believes in India, Indian values, and it's traditions. Hence he insists his colleagues and officials to go in for Indian dresses when bonus official duties.Narendra Modi has maintained high moral ground. Also he is a very hard working one, putting in 18 hours a day work. Modi doesn't waste his time. Hence when on tour, he travels during night and keeps the day time for official work. For Modi nation comes first. Hence many decisions, even if they affect the party electorally, implements them. Narendra Modi appreciates and encourages any one who does good work even if he is from opposition.Modi do not considers his adversaries within the party or outside, as his enemies. If they are merited he takes them into the cabinet as in the case nof Sushma Swaraj. He congratulated Nitish Kumar on his victory though he was his adversary.69. He is Man of RuleAt Times Modi has Addressed the BJP Parliamentary meeting, saying that he was disappointed with the attendance percentage of BJP MPs and that there is an urgent need to overcome the flaw. Proving that he is a man of rule and he is willing to tie all the loose ends in order to establish order.70. Growth in AgricultureTo resolve the problem of unpredictable nature of farming and prevent farmer suicides in the country, the Government launched PM Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in early 2016. It’s a crop insurance policy with relaxed premium rates on the principal sum insured for farmers. Implemented with a budget of Rs 17,600 crore, this scheme will provide financial support to farmers and cover for their losses.71. What Makes Narendra Modi Different?Modi is a leader who has both power and passion. We have seen political leaders who had visionary thinking and we have seen some leaders who had an eye for the details, but Narendra Modi can do both. While his eyes are focused on the stars his feet are firmly on the ground.72. Your bank account is now key to security as wellPradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 70 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹12 exclusive of taxes. The GST is exempted on Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. The accident insurance scheme will have one year cover from June 1 to May 31 and would be offered through banks and administered through public sector general insurance companies.73. Har Ghar Bijli...Har Ghar Paani...Gaon Gaon Faili Khushaali…The DDUGJY scheme will enable to initiate much awaited reforms in the rural areas. It focuses on feeder separation (rural households & agricultural) and strengthening of sub-transmission & distribution infrastructure including metering at all levels in rural areas. This will help in providing round the clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers .74. Disclose Your Undisclosed Income to Transform IndiaThe government had launched PMGKY after the demonetisation of high value currency as a second chance for tax evaders to come clean.Under the scheme, holders of black money in the demonetised currency notes could declare the undisclosed income and pay penalty and tax of up to 50 per cent of the funds and park 25 per cent in non-interest bearing deposit for four years.75. Driving India towards a cashless driven countryPM Modi has been giving a big push towards making India a digitally empowered and cashless economy. Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) aims to empower poor, dalits, tribals and farmers by using secure fingerprint access system for making transactions. Internet banking, mobile banking, Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) are other digital payment methods.76. Make a contribution in honour of the Bravehearts‘Bharat Ke Veer’ is an initiative calling out to civilians to contribute to the families of martyred soldiers. The portal allows general public to donate money online directly to individual braveheart’s account and or Bharat Ke Veer’s corpus.77. Quality medicines at affordable prices for allQuality branded medicines are not affordable to all so Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana Kendra was launched to provide quality generic medicines at affordable prices to the masses through special kendras.78. Rejuvenating the soul of Urban IndiaIndia is a country with rich heritage and culture. This scheme aims to preserve and revitalize the heritage city’s soul so as to reflect the city’s unique ethos by fostering accessible, informative and secured environment.This scheme is being implemented in 12 cities namely, Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal.79. His revolutionary initiative for water conservationTo address the ever-growing water crisis in the country, Jal Kranti Abhiyan was launched in June 2015 to preserve the precious water. It would involve using modern technique for enhancing water security, encouraging combined use of surface and groundwater, creating additional facilities for water conservation through construction of water harvesting structures, widespread programme for rain-water harvesting and for motivating the villagers toward participation in the water related schemes and cost-sharing by the community to promote a sense of belongingness and accountability.80. SANKALP SE SIDDHI (New India Movement 2017-2022)Sankalp Se Siddhi scheme is a 5-year plan of building new India by focusing on major issues such as Corruption-free, Literate India, Poverty-free, Communalism free, Caste discrimination free, Clean India and Terrorism Free. It also aims to double low income group families especially poor farmers’ income.81. Growing international tourist arrivalsModi’s tourism push has truly paid off. International tourist arrivals (ITAs) has seen a significant jump of 16 places within past 2 years according United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s World Tourism Barometer. In 2015, India was at 40th place and it recorded 24th place this March 2017. Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme was launched to develop and beautify of pilgrimage sites to drive growth of domestic tourists. Moreover, 27 projects of Rs. 2261 crore have been sanctioned for 21 states and UTs.82. Healthcare InitiativesIn the healthcare sector, several initiatives have been taken to free India from issue of open defecation to prevent diseases including typhoid, cholera, hepatitis among others. Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have recently been declared as first three open defecation-free states. Clean India Initiative (Swachh Bharat mission), E-health, door-to-door screening of various chronic diseases are few other initiatives taken by Modi government. The launch of New Health Policy seeks to to escalate public health facilities by 50% by 2025.83. Secularism: India FirstModi’s stand for secularism can be seen in his speeches and in his actions too. Secularism is a term interpreted in many different ways by different people. PM Modi mantra is made quite clear with this statement of his “For me, it has always been something very simple - putting India First.” The OFBJP(Overseas Friends Of Bhartiya Janta Party), a BJP sympathiser group has presence across 12 states in the US. The body claims to work towards projecting a positive and correct image of India and its people in the US and foreign media.84. ISRO Makes HistoryISRO and Department of Science successfully accomplished 36 missions in the last three years. Which includes 17 launch vehicle missions, 16 satellites mission and 3 technology demonstration missions. Most notable feat was that the ISRO launched a record 104 satellites in one go using PSLV. Government also made huge investments in an effort of preparedness for disaster management with Monitoring of drought, floods, and cyclones are being done.85. Modi's India Is RisingAccording to a Forbes article Modi has done well in his term of just 3 years in comparison to the long reigning former government.India’s rise in the last couple of years is evident in international rankings. Like the World Bank’s 2017 ranking of “ease of doing business,” from 130 last year to 100 this year. And the World Economic Forum Report (WEFR) competitiveness ranking, which ranked India 40th out of 137 countries included in the report, the highest it has ever been, up from 71st three years ago.86. Fearless LeaderAccording to John Chambers, the executive head of Cisco Systems and the chairman of newly constituted US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF); Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a ‘fearless’ leader who would tirelessly pursue the path of economic reform,87. 3rd most trusted Govt in the worldIndia securing third best place in the list of most trusted governments worldwide is an evidence that the country is treading in the right direction of development under our Honorable PM Modi’s leadership. The report reveals that almost three quarters (74 percent) of Indians say they have confidence in their national government.The factors taken into consideration were- the economy, political upheaval, and headline-grabbing events like major corruption cases.88. Modi and his “Yaari Dosti”PM Narendra Modi has been in talks for long because of his frequent foreign visits. The countries that he visited in an effort to improve the friendly ties between India and the world are Russia Balochistan Pakistan Britain Australia and The United States Of America. People have been giving him names like NRI PM and what not.Modi's foreign visits, however, have certainly placed India in a strong strategic position internationally.89. He Is Among World’s 10 Most Powerful PeoplePrime Minister Narendra Modi has been ranked among the top 10 most powerful people in the world by Forbes in a list that has been topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a fourth straight year and had US President-elect Donald Trump in the second place.90. Law & OrderWith the Narendra Modi government celebrating the completion of three years in power at the Centre, the Ministry of Law and Justice has highlighted its 40 achievements, including the appointment of 17 judges to the Supreme Court and 232 judges to various high courts since May 2014.91. Not A Single Corruption Charge Against Modi GovtPM Modi projected his government's success in the areas of fighting terror and graft, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that there has not been a single stain of corruption against his regime and no country has questioned the surgical strikes conducted across the border.92. Revolution in the AirUDAN-RCS, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is a regional airport development and "Regional Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of "Let the common citizen of the country fly", aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and states of India.93. Shramev JayateTo usher in labor reforms, Shramev Jayate scheme was launched in 2014. The wage ceiling of laborers was raised Rs 6500 per month to Rs 15000 per month all throughout the country. It even aims to improve employability through skill development programmes for laborers by promoting the Industrial Training Institutes.94. Infrastructure InitiativesMultiple infrastructure projects have been launched and some are on the brink of implementation. Rs. 12,00,000 crore Sagarmala project of building more than 6 mega ports, Rs 50,800-crore Setu Bharatam project of renovating 1500 British era bridges, Rs 1198 crore project of building world’s highest bridge on Chenab and several others are key projects initiated under Modi government.95. Promises that were never kept are now being taken care ofEven after more than 65 years of independence, “Garibi Hatao” has been an age-long slogan being given by politicians in every election. But the fact is that any serious initiative to solve such a huge problem have hardly been taken. And Modi government and has truly transformed the lives of many through its numerous initiatives.96. Ek Bharat Shreshtha BharatIndia is a country celebrating the spirit of ‘unity in diversity’. Its diverse cultures, languages and traditions has led to the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme that aims to enhance interaction across varied geographies, ensuring the geopolitical strength and building learning ecosystem through State to State connect.97. Solving Long Pending IssuesModi government has played a key role in solving several long-time pending issues. Now, there’s no more free reign for black money, no more worries on OROP (One Rank One Position), no more villages in dark and land boundary agreement with Bangladesh has been implemented.98. Prakash Path – Way to LightConserving power is much more economical than producing power. So PM Modi launched scheme for energy conservation by promoting use of LED bulbs for home and street lighting.99. Initiative to bring students closer to natureTo bring school students closer to natural environment, School Nursery Yojana was launched in 2015 to raise plant nurseries. This will help them in understanding the natural processes of germination and feel the joy of watching sapling grow.100. Conserve and develop indigenous bovine breedsEnhancing the productivity of indigenous breeds of India through professional farm management and superior nutrition is the major idea behind Rashtriya Gokul Mission for Farmers. Rs 150 crore has been sanctioned for the project.101. Skill Development and EntrepreneurshipThe National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme aims to provide apprenticeship training to over 50 lakh youngsters in order to create more jobs. It has budgetary outlay of Rs 10000 crore. NAPS is implemented by Director General of Training (DGT) under the aegis of Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).102.Ayushman bharat Yojana103.Kissan saman nidhI Yojana103.Shram yogi pension YojanaSo we should all physicaliy go to caste our vote to form Modi government again.Thanks for appreciaction.