The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the Republic Summit at Hotel at Taj Palace in New Delhi today.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister expressed gratitude for being a part of the Republic Summit and congratulated the entire team for the completion of 6 years next month. Recalling his participation in the Republic Summit in 2019 with the theme ‘India’s Moment’, the Prime Minister said that it had the background of the people’s mandate when the citizens had elected a government with an overwhelming majority and stability for the second time in a row. “The country realized that India’s moment is now here”, the Prime Minister said. Throwing light on this year’s theme ‘Time of Transformation’, the Prime Minister said that citizens can now witness the transformation on the ground which was envisioned 4 years earlier.
The Prime Minister said that the standard of measuring the direction of the country is the speed of its development. He said that it took the Indian economy 60 years to reach the 1 trillion mark and we had reached 2 trillion with great difficulty in 2014, meaning a 2 trillion economy in 7 decades and today, after just 9 years India is almost a three and half trillion economy. And, India jumped from 10th rank to 5th rank in the last 9 years, that too amidst the once-in-a-century pandemic, he said. When other economies are struggling, India not only overcame the crisis but is growing fast, he added.
Talking about the dynamics of the impact of politics, the Prime Minister said that the first order impact is the first goal of any policy and it is visible in a very short time. However, every policy has a second or third impact also which is deeper but takes time to be visible. The Prime Minister said that the policies adopted in the aftermath of Independence led to a situation where the government became the controller and competition was killed and private industry and MSME were not allowed to grow. First order impact of these policies was extreme backwardness and the second order impact was even more harmful i.e. India’s consumption growth contracted compared to the world. Manufacturing sector weakened and we lost many opportunities for investment. The third order impact of these, Shri Modi continued, was the absence of innovation ecosystem in India leading to fewer innovative enterprises and fewer jobs. The youth stayed dependent on government jobs alone and brain drain happened.
The Prime Minister informed that the policies made after 2014 by the present government paid attention to second and third order effects apart from initial benefits. He stated that the number of houses handed out to people under PM Awas Yojna increased to more than 3.75 crores from 1.5 crores in the last 4 years where the ownership of these houses belongs to the women. He expressed satisfaction that crores of poor women have now become ‘Lakhpati Didi’ as the cost of construction of the houses is several lakhs. The Prime Minister also drew attention to the fact the scheme created numerous employment opportunities. “PM Awas Yojna has taken the self-confidence of the poor and marginalized to new heights”, the Prime Minister said.
Speaking about Mudra Yojna which provides financial support to micro and small entrepreneurs, the Prime Minister informed that the scheme has completed 8 years a while ago. He informed that more than 40 crore loans were disbursed under the Mudra Yojna where 70 percent of the beneficiaries were women. The first impact of this scheme, the Prime Minister said, was the increase in employment and self-employment opportunities. He underlined that a societal change can be witnessed be it by opening Jan Dhan accounts for women or incentivizing self-help groups where the decision-making authority of the women in the family has been established. He further added that the women of the country are strengthening the economy of the country by becoming job creators.
The Prime Minister also elaborated on the first, second and third order impact in the PM Svamitva scheme. Property cards made through the use of technology gave confidence in property security. Another impact is the expansion of the drone sector through increased demand. Also, Property cards have decreased the cases of property disputes and reduced the stress on the police and justice system. Furthermore, property with papers has enabled help from banks in the villages.
The Prime Minister touched upon schemes like DBT, electricity and water facilities that have brought a revolution on the ground level. “It is for the first time in the country that the poor have got security as well as dignity”, Shri Modi remarked. He underlined that those who were once considered a burden are now steering the path of development in the country. “These schemes have now become the basis for Viksit Bharat”, he added.
Shri Modi said that in the last 9 years dalits, deprived, tribals, women, poor, women, middle class everyone is experiencing a change. The country is witnessing systematic work in mission mode. “We changed the mindset of power to the mindset of service, we made welfare of the poor our medium. We made ‘santushtikaran’ instead of ‘tushtikaran’ as our base. This approach has created a defence shield for the middle class” he said. He touched upon the savings induced by schemes like Ayushman Yojna, affordable medicine, free vaccination, free dialysis, and accident insurance for crores of families.
Touching upon PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna, the Prime Minister said that it is another protective shield for a huge populace that did not let any family sleep on an empty stomach during the testing times of the Corona pandemic. He informed that the government is spending 4 lakh crore rupees on this Anna Yojna scheme, be it on One Nation One Ration Card or JAM Trinity. He underlined that social justice in the true sense is when the poor get their deserved share from the government. According to a recent working paper from the IMF, the Prime Minister said, extreme poverty is on the verge of elimination due to such policies, even during the Corona period.
Talking about MNREGA, the Prime Minister mentioned various irregularities and the absence of any permanent asset development before 2014. Now, he said, there is transparency by sending the money directly into the account and creating resources in the villages like houses, canals, ponds, baodis etc. “Most of the payments are cleared in 15 days now and more than 90 percent of labourers’ Aadhar cards have been linked, leading to a reduction in job card scams leading to prevention of pilferage of about 40 thousand crore rupees,” he said.
“This journey of transformation is as contemporary as it is futuristic”, the Prime Minister remarked as he highlighted that preparations are already underway for many decades. The Prime Minister recalled the time when new technology would arrive years or decades later. He said that India has broken this trend in the last 9 years and underlined the steps taken to achieve this. He mentioned freeing technology-related sectors from the control of the government, insisting on developing technology in India according to the needs of the country, and lastly, adopting a mission-mode approach to research and development for the technology of the future. He gave the example of 5G technology and said that the speed shown by India in its development is being discussed all over the world.
The Prime Minister recalled the Corona pandemic and underlined that India chose the path of ‘atmanirbharta’ or self-reliance even in times of crisis. The Prime Minister highlighted the indigenously made effective vaccines that were produced in a very short time, and the world’s largest, most successful vaccine campaign. The Prime Minister looked back to the time and said, “This was also when some people were rejecting Made in India vaccines and advocating for the import of foreign vaccines.”
The Prime Minister said that despite various obstacles and attempts to derail it, the Digital India campaign is being talked about everywhere. He also recalled attempts to stop JAM Trinity and pseudo-intellectuals mocking digital payment. Today, India is witnessing the most number of Digital payments, he said.
Dwelling upon the displeasure against himself from his critics, the Prime Minister said that the reason behind the discourse is permanently cutting off the sources of black money for these people and there is no half-hearted, isolated approach in the fight against corruption. “Now, there is an integrated, institutionalized approach. This is our commitment”, the Prime Minister said. He pointed out that about 10 crore fake beneficiaries of government schemes have been rooted out because of JAM Trinity, which is more than the total population of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. He further added that the situation could have been worse if the present government had not removed these 10 crore fake names from the system. He mentioned the various steps taken to achieve this and mentioned giving constitutional status to Aadhaar and opening more than 45 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts. The Prime Minister informed that Rs 28 lakh crore have been transferred to crores of beneficiaries through DBT so far. “DBT means no commission, no leakage. Due to this one arrangement, transparency has come in dozens of schemes and programmes”, Shri Modi added.
Similarly, he continued, government procurement too was a big source of corruption in the country. Now the GeM portal has transformed it. Faceless taxation and GST have blocked corrupt practices. “When such honesty prevails, it is natural for the corrupt to feel discomfort and they plan to destroy the honest system. This would have perhaps succeeded if it was against Modi alone, but they know that they are facing common citizens. “No matter how big an alliance these corrupt people cobble, the attack on corruption will continue,” said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister concluded by saying “This Amrit Kaal is of ‘Sabka Prayas’, When hard work and might of every Indian will be applied, we will be able to realize the dream of a ‘Viksit Bharat ‘ soon.
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