In the backdrop of the global economic turmoil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed his Government’s economic policies and said India is the only country not affected by the downfall in world economic scenario. “Everyone is saying this... The World Bank, the IMF. The world is going through an economic crisis, but it is India alone that is progressing at a rapid pace. This is a unique situation when the whole world is slipping and India is growing,” Modi said.
“People across the world are saying that the steps taken by the Government have led to India becoming the fastest growing economy among the larger economies of the world,” he said. The Prime Minister was speaking at an event to celebrate the birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the social reform movement Arya Samaj.
Modi’s assertion came on a day when the Congress said it would demand a White Paper on the state of the economy in the Budget Session of Parliament beginning February 23. listing out several “pro-people” schemes launched by his Government, the Prime Minister referred to the Skill India initiative and Mudra Bank. “One thing can free us from our problems, from poverty, from lack of education and that is development,” Modi said.
“Over two crore people have benefited from MUDRA Yojana and over Rs1 lakh crore has been disbursed to them. Financial support has been given to people and we have faith in them,” Modi said.
Speaking about the formation of Arya Samaj in 1875 by Dayanand Saraswati, Modi said it had its roots in India’s First War of Independence. “1857 saw the first War of Independence. After centuries of slavery, there was a new zeal and that too not a small one. It did not restrict itself to 2,000 to 5,000 freedom fighters, but the entire country stood up.
“However, the desired results were not achieved. When you see that background, you will then realise why Arya Samaj was established then,” the Prime Minister said.
Observing that many people have said that the 21st century would be India’s century, Modi said this century is the “era of knowledge” and India has always led the world in knowledge. He called upon the youth to take a pledge to enhance India’s prestige in the world fora through their skills and knowledge.
“There are the public sector and the private sector. We want to introduce another sector — the personal sector. We want the people to be self-sufficient and self-employed to be become job creators and not job seekers,” Modi said.
Maintaining that his Government had introduced schemes to make the people especially the youth self-sufficient, he spoke of the Jan Dhan Yojana and said over Rs30,000 crore was deposited in the accounts under the scheme. Through such schemes, the poor can come out of the clutches of the rural money-lenders, he said.
Noting that 60 per cent of India’s population was below 35 years of age, he said India was the “youngest nation in the world”. “The Government’s focus is on how the power of the youth can be used for development of the nation. Therefore, we not only launched a skill development programme, but also created a new Ministry, with its own budget and a set of officers to take the programme forward,” Modi said.
By 2030, when the population of many countries will grow old and when they require work force, India can power these nations with skilled and technically-qualified manpower, he said.
“Apart from having certificates in their hands, our youth must be skilled,” he said and exhorted the youth to “pick up any one idea and work on it...let India’s strength on the world stage increase through the idea you pick.”
He also welcomed the support offered by DAV College Committee for cleaning the Ganga. On the initiative, Modi said several Governments in the past had tried to clean the river, but were not successful. However, “if people make up their mind, the mission can be easily achieved.”