‘Things Begin to Change When Development of Nation Given Priority,’ Says PM Modi in Keynote Address

This is the century of India, said the PM.

New Delhi: Making the keynote address at the Rising India Summit of a leading news channel on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to list out the achievements of his Government, especially with the general elections around the corner.

PM Modi, speaking on ‘Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities’, began by saying, “After my speech, it will be clear to you that apart from politics, when the development of the nation is given priority, how things change.”

To do that, he said, he would need to compare how things were today vis-a-vis that during the UPA regime. “Take the example of inflation. In the previous government, you had reported that the dearness rate had exceeded the figure of 10%. The rate of inflation in our government has dropped to around 2-4%,” he said.

As far as income tax was concerned, said the PM, the middle class sought relaxation but “it was our Government that brought taxable income up to Rs 5 lakh out of tax purview”.

This is the century of India, said the PM. He added that from being on the World’s Fragile Five Countries’ list in 2013, India has become the ‘Fastest Growing Large Economy ‘ just because of the hard work of 125 crore people of the nation.

He pointed out how linking of Aadhaar with Jan Dhan bank accounts and cellphone numbers had weeded out bogus names and brought transparency to the system.

पहले की सरकारों ने, देश में जो व्यवस्था बना रखी थी, उसमें एक-दो नहीं 8 करोड़ ऐसे फर्जी नाम थे,
जिनके नाम पर सरकारी लाभ ट्रांसफर किया जा रहा था।

साथियों, सरकार के इस प्रयास से एक लाख 10 हजार करोड़ रुपए से ज्यादा गलत हाथों में जाने से बच रहे हैं: PM

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 25, 2019

The KISAN scheme would help farmers meet their daily expenditure, said the PM, adding that there was no scope of any kind of leakage in this scheme.

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, PM Modi said that with the reforms in place, there was no way anyone could pull off a fodder scam today. “After all, Modi has done away with ‘raw receipt’ and that’s why they are abusing me so much,” he said.

Addressing another of Opposition’s allegations that there was a dearth of jobs, the PM said that at a time that the Foreign Direct Investment was at an all-time high, how was it possible that there were no jobs?

“When India was busy eradicating poverty, how is it possible that is happening without people finding jobs?” he asked.

Unsparing of the Opposition, the PM alleged, “The problem is not that Modi has destroyed the nation. The problem is that we have closed shops of those who were robbing this nation.”