The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the Republic Summit 2024 in New Delhi today. The theme of the Summit is Bharat: The Next Decade. Addressing the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled saying that this decade belongs to India and the fact that this statement was not a political one has been affirmed by the world today.
The world believes this is India’s decade”, he said as he lauded the Republic Team’s vision for initiating a discussion on India of the next decade, as per the theme. The Prime Minister underlined that the current decade will become a medium to fulfill the resolutions of Viksit Bharat.
Stressing the importance of the present decade for independent India, the Prime Minister recalled his acclamation from the Red Fort and said, “Yahi samay hai, Sahi samay hai.” He underlined that this decade is a time for strengthening the foundations of a capable and developed India and fulfilling the wishes of the people that were once considered impossible.
This is a decade to accomplish India’s dreams through the nation’s capability”, he emphasized. He stated that before the next decade, the people will witness India becoming the third-largest economy and basic necessities like pucca homes, toilets, gas, electricity, water, internet etc will be made available for everyone.
He stressed that the present decade will belong to the infrastructural development of expressways, high speed trains, and inland waterway networks and India will get its first bullet train, fully operational dedicated freight corridors, and large cities in India will get connected through NaMo or Metro Rail.This decade will be dedicated to India’s high-speed connectivity, mobility and prosperity”, he added.
Talking about the global uncertainty and instability in the present times, the Prime Minister referred to the experts’ opinion about the present moment being the most unstable in its intensity and expanse with governments all over the world facing waves of opposition. “Amidst all this India is like a ray of trust as a strong democracy”, the Prime Minister said.
He further said, “India has proved that good politics can be done with good economics.” Noting global curiosity about India’s performance, the Prime Minister said, “This happened because we fulfilled the needs as well as dreams of the nation, we focussed on prosperity while working on empowerment.”
He further gave an example of the reduction in corporate tax while bringing down the personal income tax. Furthermore, he said with record investment in modern infrastructure crores of pucca houses are being built along with free medical treatment and free ration. If there were PLI schemes for industry there were insurance and income generation means for farmers also. Investment in technology and innovation is accompanied by focus on skill development of the youth.
The Prime Minister lamented the time lost for India’s development for decades as a result of dynastic politics and stressed working on unprecedented scale and speed to recover the lost time for the creation of Viksit Bharat. He highlighted the ongoing development work taking place in all areas of India today and said that his focus remains on boosting the speed and scale of the country’s development.
Referring to the developments taking place in the country in the last 75 days, the Prime Minister mentioned laying foundation stones and inaugurating projects worth about Rs 9 lakh crores, a figure more than US$ 110 billion.
He underlined that the investment made in the last 75 days towards modern infrastructure is more than the annual budget of many countries in the world. In the last 75 days, the Prime Minister informed that 7 new AIIMS, 3 IIMs, 10 IITs, 5 NITs, 3 IIITs, 2 ICR and 10 central institutions, 4 Medical and nursing colleges and 6 national research labs have been inaugurated or foundation stones have been laid.
Projects worth Rs 1800 crores have been inaugurated in the space infrastructure sector, 54 power projects were inaugurated or the foundation stones were laid, and 2 new reactors of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant were dedicated to the nation.
Core loading of the indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor was commenced at Kalpakkam, a 1600 MW thermal power plant was inaugurated in Telangana, a 1300 MW thermal power plant was inaugurated in Jharkhand.
Foundation stones were laid for a 1600 MW thermal power plant, a 300 MW solar power plant and Mega Renewable Park in UP, hydropower project in Himachal, country's first green hydrogen fuel cell vessel was launched in Tamil Nadu, Meerut-Simbhavali transmission lines of UP were inaugurated and transmission lines from Wind Energy Zone in Koppal, Karnataka were inaugurated.
He further added that in the last 75 days, India's longest cable-based bridge was inaugurated, work of under-sea optical cable till Lakshadweep was inaugurated, the work of modernizing more than 500 railway stations in the country has started, 33 new trains were flagged off, more than 1500 projects of roads, overbridges and underpasses were inaugurated, 7 metro related projects have been inaugurated in 4 cities of the country and Kolkata has got the gift of the country's first underwater metro.
The foundation stone of 30 port development projects worth Rs 10,000 thousand crore was inaugurated. He also mentioned the initiation of the world's largest storage scheme for farmers, the completion of computerization of 18,000 cooperatives and more than Rs 21,000 crores were transferred to the bank accounts of farmers.
Elaborating on the speed of governance, the Prime Minister informed that it took just 4 weeks after the announcement of PM Suryaghar Muft Bijli Yojana in the budget to approval and launch. He said that the citizens are witnessing this scale and speed with their own eyes.
The Prime Minister also talked about the roadmap for the next 25 years. He said that as every second counts, development work is continuing even amidst the election atmosphere. “In the last 10 years people have witnessed solutions instead of slogans”, PM Modi said.
Initiatives like food security, revival of fertilizer plants, electrification, and strengthening border infrastructure, from ensuring pucca houses to abrogation of article 370, the prime Minister said, the government work on all priorities simultaneously.
PM Modi noted the change in the nature of questions over the period of the last 10 years. The pessimistic questions about the national economies turned into hope and eager wait to become the third largest economy, from waiting for the latest technology to leadership in digital payment, from joblessness to questions about startups, from days of inflation to being an exception to world’s turmoil and about rapid development.
Furthermore, he mentioned the change in the question from hopeless to optimistic about scams, reforms, article 370 and strides in the economy of Jammu and Kashmir. Recalling his visit to Srinagar this morning, the Prime Minister told the audience about the transformed mood of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Prime Minister elaborated on the government's focus on those who were left behind as liabilities. He gave the example of Aspirational Districts and said that the government changed the approach and destiny of people in these districts which were left with their misfortune.
A similar approach saw the transformation of the border villages and divyangs. He informed about the standardization of sign language and said that a sensitive government works with a rooted approach and thinking. Continuing with the focus on the ignored and deprived communities, the Prime Minister also mentioned steps for nomadic and semi-nomadic populations, street vendors and Vishwakarmas.
Noting the role of hard work, vision and resolution in the journey of achievements, the Prime Minister said “India is also moving forward at a fast pace in this journey. The heights at which India will reach in the next decade will be unprecedented and beyond imagination. This is also Modi's guarantee”, the Prime Minister concluded.