Strong Base Key for Growth: Modi

New Delhi, Jaipur, Panipat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India’s progress following the mantra of “Perform, Transform and Reform” is visible in every field. Inaugurating the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit 2024 and the Rajasthan Global Business Expo in Jaipur, the Prime Minister also said today every expert and investor in the world is very excited about India.

He said that having a large manufacturing base in India is important as the world needs an economy that continues to function strongly even during the biggest crisis. “It should not be disrupted. For this, it is very important to have a large ‘manufacturing base’ in India,” he added.

The Prime Minister also said that India has shown how the democratisation of digital technology is benefiting every sector and every class. “India is showing the world the real power of ‘democracy, demography and data’,” he said.

Later, addressing a gathering after launching the “Bima Sakhi Yojana” of state-owned LIC in Haryana’s Panipat, Modi said that his government has taken unprecedented steps for women’s empowerment in the past 10 years.

In Jaipur, Modi pointed out that it took India seven decades after Independence to become 11th largest economy but just in the last decade the country has becomes the fifth largest in the world. “India’s economy and exports have nearly doubled in the last 10 years,” he said, adding that even Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) had increased more than two times in the last decade in comparison with the decade before 2014.

The Prime Minister noted that the infrastructure expenditure of India had increased to `11 trillion from nearly `2 trillion. “India’s success showcases the true power of democracy, demography, digital data and delivery,” he said.

Modi noted the success and empowerment of democracy in a diverse country like India was a great achievement in itself. The Prime Minister remarked that welfare of humanity while being a democratic nation was at the core of the philosophy of India. He hailed the demography, that is youth power, for taking forward these ancient traditions of India, and remarked that India was going to be among the youngest countries in the world for many years to come and it will have the largest pool of youth as well as the largest skilled youth group.

He mentioned that the government was undertaking several positive steps in this direction.

Later, in Panipat, the Prime Minister assured the women of Haryana that the state would develop rapidly and that the governments at the Centre and the state will work three times faster in their third term. He expressed confidence that the role of women power in Haryana would continue to grow stronger.

Modi said that to empower women it was very important that they get ample opportunities to move forward and every obstacle was removed from in front of them. “When women get an opportunity to move forward, they open new doors of opportunities for the country,” he said while adding that for a long time, there were many jobs in the country that were barred for women, but the BJP government has resolved to remove every obstacle coming their way.

Modi informed the gathering that over 10 crore women across the country were associated with self-help groups and the government has provided assistance of more than Rs.8 lakh crore to women-led self-help groups.

Listing the initiatives taken by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the Prime Minister took a dig at the Opposition, saying those who weigh everything on the scale of the vote bank have failed to understand why he was increasingly getting the support of women in the country.

“Those who considered mothers and sisters only as a vote bank will not be able to understand this strong relationship,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the main campus of Maharana Pratap Horticultural University, Karnal.

The “Bima Sakhi Yojana”, an initiative of state-owned LIC, is designed to empower women aged 18-70 years who have passed out of Class 10. They will receive specialised training and a stipend for the first three years to promote financial literacy and insurance awareness. Under the scheme, female agents will also get a stipend of Rs.7,000 per month for the first year, Rs.6,000 per month in the second year, and Rs.5,000 per month in the third year. Bima Sakhis will also get commissions.