Slamming the previous UPA Government to turning India into a country ridden with scams, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Sunday that his Government had pulled the country out of the “Fragile Five” economies to a position where “it is poised to enter five trillion club” in the next few years.
Inaugurating the Global Investors’ Summit “Magnetic Maharashtra” at the MMRDA grounds at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in north-central Mumbai, Modi said: “I remember that some years ago, when India for the first time entered the trillion dollar club, the development had made headlines. After that for some years, India was rocked by scams. At that time entire atmosphere had changed in India. At that time, the people had begun to dub India as among the “Fragile Five”.
“However, after our relentless efforts for the past three and half years, there is now a talk about India becoming a five trillion dollar economy. Several big international agencies are saying that India would join the five trillion dollar club in the new few years,” the Prime Minister said.
Heaping praise on Maharashtra for its ambition to become Indian State to enter the trillion dollar club, Modi said: “On this land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, it is not difficult to achieve any goal. I am confident that Maharashtra will achieve this goal and become the first Indian State with trillion dollar economy”.
“During the last three years, Maharashtra Govt has taken unprecedented steps to strengthen the investment environment. Continuous efforts of State Government have helped to make record changes in World Bank’s Ease to Doing Business ranking..Today, infrastructure projects in Maharashtra are attracting global attention,” Modi said.
Appreciating Maharashtra for making maximum investment on infrastructure and contributing a great deal to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, the Prime Minister said: “last year, Maharashtra invested maximum on infrastructure projects. ... Maharashtra contributed as much as 51 per cent of total FDI that India received during 2016-17,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi said that the Maharashtra had initiated mega-infrastructure projects like Navi Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai Trans Harbour link, 350 kms of Metro Rail and similar Metro Rail in other cities like Pune and Nagpur and taken up the 700-km Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway. “The Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway alone has the potential of creating 25 lakh jobs which will give a boost rural development in the State,” he said.
Making a special reference “Advantage Assam” business summit organised recently, Modi expressed satisfaction over the healthy competition being witnessed among various States in the country. “There is great competition among States to encourage investments. All State Governments are focussing on it. The same is happening in North East. This would have been unimaginable a few years ago. I congratulate all of them,” he said.
Explaining that his government was building a Transparent Ecosystem in the country for the construction of New India which was least dependent on the Government machinery, the Prime Minister said: “we have a system of Governance that has minimum of interference. The country makes progress only when there is holistic vision, vision is inclusive and comprehensive”
“Today we are heading in such a direction, the State is policy-driven, governance is performance-driven and government tis accountable. Democracy is participative,” he said. Dwelling upon the “ease of business”, Modi also spoke about “ease of living” when he said” “The Government working for ease of living, the more it increases the more empowerment will happen and in turn, our social and economic development will happen: Modi at Magnetic Maharashtra”
Earlier in the afternoon, speaking at a function organised to perform “bhoomi puja for the Rs 16, 000 crore Navi Mumbai International Airport and dedicate the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in the neighbouring Raigad district, the Prime Minister lamented that the previous Governments had ignored the aviation which was growing exponentially. When I assumed office the Navi Mumbai airport project was pending for years. We removed all hurdles facing it and the project has now begun.
“India's aviation sector is growing tremendously, and there is a sharp increase in the number of people flying. This makes quality infrastructure in the aviation sector of prime importance. Currently, nearly 450 planes are currently operational. Seeing the increased demand, the aviation companies have place purchase order 900 new planes,” he said
Modi said that Prime Minister said that the Union Government had brought an aviation policy that wass transforming the sector. “A strong aviation sector also gives more economic opportunities. Better connectivity leads to more tourists coming to India,” Modi said. later in the evening, while dedicating the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence to the nation, the Prime Minister said: “We need to Make Artificial Intelligence in India and Make Artificial Intelligence work for India”
Exhorting the gathering to identify the grand challenges that Artificial Intelligence can solve for India, Modi wondered: “Can we make the future less about machines displacing humans to a future about humans becoming better humans by converting their weaknesses into their strengths for the greater good of mankindIJ