Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Railway & Agriculture (MACCIA) celebrated its 92nd Foundation day today, on 20 th September 2019 in Mumbai.On this occasion MICCIA organized a lecture on ‘India's Importance in Global Economy’, delivered by Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Railways Piyush Goyal.Addressing the gathering, the minister said “In the aspect of ‘ease of doing business’, India was in the range of 130-140 historically. However, in the last two years, we made our position between 130-131. This year we have jumped 30 points further to 77th place. This is the highest jump”. We have to boost indigenous manufacturing. India has a keen interest to adopt new technology, new manufacturing policies. In this context, we are inviting more foreign companies to manufacture in India. “India is a $ 2.8trillion economy and will be $ 5 trillion economy by the year 2024. It is true that the international financial crisis has reflected on the Indian economy. Therefore a corruption-free India is the very first step that needs to be implemented. A Policy like ‘Don’t take or Don’t give bribe’ is needed to be adopted by every Indian and should be taught to our children too”, he added.He further said that “Today, the world is looking at India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the decisions taken by him. Otherwise, it would have remained a dream for the poor women to get an LPG connection and freedom from a smoke- filled kitchen. His other decisions like number of toilets built in rural areas and the drive of ‘Toilets in Every Home’, Drinking water in every household, etc. are for common people's upliftment.
Highlighting Railway infrastructure, Goyal said, there are around 6.5 Lakh stations and Two Lakh halt stations all over the country. These stations are provided wi-fi facilities, we are trying to expand reach of internet through wi-fi to the masses nearby these small railway stations. Railways made a huge investment, especially at small stations where the railway halts are not that frequent during the day. We want volunteers to adopt a railway station along with the required handy infrastructure like printer, laptop, etc.and make all the facilities available to the people around where a lot of planning related to rosters and other related work can be done. This is really important so that poor children who cannot afford modern amenities get access to the internet and knowledge.He further said that in long-distance railways ‘Space Kitchens’ have been started as food service to the passenger. Related to food quality, many complaints were received. Therefore; every long distance train with pantry facility is under surveillance of CCTV. Even passengers who gave an order of food can check cooking quality by using bar codes given on their coupons.Informing about the Station Adoption scheme, the Minister said, to develop infrastructure facilities at railway stations, cleanliness drive at stations, security and wi-fi facility for the masses, Railway has introduced Station Adoption scheme for nongovernment organization, various public, private companies. Such companies have to contribute Rs. One Lakh a year. The willing companies have to submit their yearly development plan to the Railway authority for transparency. The list of stations is available on Raildrushti.in App. Once the plan is checked and scrutinized, the agency has the right to choose stations for adoption, the Minister said.