New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the "new India" is moving with policies and strategies that have opened the doors for new possibilities. He said that after 2014, the country adopted a proactive approach as opposed to the reactive stance of earlier times. The Prime Minister was speaking at the National Rozgar Mela, where appointment letters were given to 71,506 recruits in different ministries and departments.
Addressing the National Rozgar Mela via video conferencing, Mr Modi noted that more than Rs 23-lakh crores worth of bank guarantee-free loans have been disbursed under the "Mudra" scheme with 70 per cent of beneficiaries being women.
"This scheme has created 8-crore new entrepreneurs. These are the people who have started their businesses for the first time with the help of Mudra Yojana," he said, highlighting the power of microfinance in energising the economy at the grassroots level.
Without taking any names, the Prime Minister took a swipe at former finance minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram who recently questioned the scheme and asked what kind of businesses can be started with a loan of Rs 50,000. He said that those who "consider themselves big economists" and "gave loans on the phone" to big businessmen are ridiculing the scheme.
"Microfinance does a lot to strengthen the grassroots economy, but some people who consider themselves big economists never realised this and mocked it," he said.
Noting that India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the Prime Minister said that the world is seeing India as a bright spot amidst the global challenges of recession and pandemic.
"Today’s new India is moving with policies and strategies that have opened the doors for new possibilities. After 2014, India adopted a proactive approach as opposed to the reactive stance of the earlier times," he said.
Citing examples of startups and Indian youth’s enthusiasm, the Prime Minister referred to a report that said that startups have created more than 40 lakhs direct or indirect jobs and mentioned drones and the sports sector as new avenues of employment.
The Prime Minister further noted that the thinking and approach of Aatmnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan go beyond adopting swadeshi and being "vocal for local".
"Aatmnirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is the pursuit of creating crores of employment opportunities from villages to cities," Mr Modi said and gave examples of indigenously made modern satellites and semi-high-speed trains.
"More than 30,000 Linke Hofmann Busch coaches have been manufactured in India in the last 8–9 years. Technology and raw materials for these coaches have created thousands of jobs in India," he said.
Countering the prevalent, decade-old mindset that defence equipment in India could only be imported, the Prime Minister highlighted that the government changed this approach by trusting indigenous manufacturers, which resulted in the armed forces creating a list of more than 300 equipment and weapons that would only be made in India. He informed the audience that Rs 15,000 crores worth of defence equipment is being exported all around the world.
The Prime Minister also highlighted the role of investment in infrastructure in employment generation and said that emphasis on capital expenditure is creating infrastructure like roads, railways, ports and buildings.
Highlighting the employment potential of infrastructure, the Prime Minister informed that during the tenure of the present government, capital expenditure has grown fourfold.
Giving the example of the developments before and after 2014, Mr Modi mentioned Indian Railway and pointed out that in the past seven decades before 2014, merely 20,000 km of electrification of railway tracks took place, whereas 40,000 km of rail lines have been electrified in the last nine years.
He also informed the audience that the laying of Metro rail lines increased from 600 m per month before 2014, to 6 km per month today. "The gas network was limited to less than 70 districts in the country before 2014, whereas today this number has gone up to 630 districts," the Prime Minister said.
Speaking about the road length in rural areas, the Prime Minister noted that it saw an increase from 4-lakh km to 7-lakh km after 2014. "When roads reach the villages, it leads to rapid employment generation in the entire ecosystem," he said.
Talking about the aviation sector, Mr Modi pointed out that the number of airports has grown from 74 in 2014 to 148 today.
Mentioning the health sector, the Prime Minister said that while there were less than 400 medical colleges in the country before 2014, today there are 660 medical colleges. "Similarly, undergraduate medical seats have grown to more than 1 lakh from 50,000 in 2014 and more than double the number of doctors graduating today," Mr Modi said.
The Prime Minister said: "More than 6-lakh km optical fibre have been laid in villages; more than 2.5-crore of the 3-crore houses under PMAY have been constructed in villages; more than 10-crore toilets have been constructed and mechanisation has increased in the agriculture sector. All this has created massive employment opportunities."
In his message to those who have received their appointment letters, the Prime Minister said that this is an opportunity to contribute to the development of the country while the nation moves ahead with the goal of becoming a developed India by 2047.
