The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi replied to the motion of thanks on the President’s address to Parliament in the Rajya Sabha today. The Prime Minister started his reply by thanking Rashtrapati Ji for guiding both the Houses by presenting the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ in her address. 

The Prime Minister said as opposed to the earlier times “Our government's aim is to provide permanent solutions for the citizens and empower them.” He said while it was the responsibility of the government in the earlier times to provide solutions to the people’s problems, they had different priorities and intentions. “Today we are moving towards permanent solutions to the problems”, he added. The Prime Minister gave the example of the water issue and explained that instead of tokenism, a holistic integrated approach of creating water infrastructure, water governance, quality control, water conservation, and irrigation innovation has been deployed. Similar measures have created permanent solutions in financial inclusion, DBT via Jan Dhan - Aadhar- Mobile, infrastructure planning and implementation via PM Gatishakti Masterplan, 

“We understand the importance of Infrastructure, Scale and Speed for building a modern India”, the Prime Minister said. He emphasized that the working culture in the country has been transformed by the power of technology and the government is focused on increasing the speed and enhancing its scale.  

“Mahatma Gandhi used to say ‘shrey’ (merit) and ‘priy’ (dear). We have chosen the path of ‘shrey’ (merit)”, the Prime Minister remarked. The Prime Minister underlined that the path chosen by the government is not the one where resting is a priority, but the one where we work tirelessly every day and night to fulfill the aspirations of the common people.  

The Prime Minister highlighted that the government has taken the significant step of achieving saturation in the Azadi Ka Amrit Kaal. He reiterated the efforts of the government where 100 percent of benefits reach every beneficiary in the country. “This is true secularism. This eliminates discrimination and corruption”, Shri Modi said. 

The Prime Minister said “For decades, the development of tribal communities was neglected. We gave top priority to their welfare.”  He informed that a separate Ministry for tribal welfare was created during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and concerted efforts for tribal welfare were undertaken. 

The Prime Minister emphasized that “small farmers are the backbone of India's agriculture sector. We are working to strengthen their hands.” The Prime Minister said that small farmers were neglected for a very long time. The current government focussed on their needs and created many opportunities for the small farmers along with small vendors and artisans. The Prime Minister also elaborated on the steps taken for women empowerment and talked about the government’s initiative to empower, ensure dignity and create ease of living at every stage of a woman’s life in India. 

“With the expertise of our scientists and innovators, India is becoming a pharma hub of the world”, the Prime Minister remarked as he drew attention to the unfortunate events when some people tried to let down India’s scientists, innovators and vaccine manufacturers. The Prime Minister talked about inculcating scientific temper through measures like Atal Innovation Mission and Tinkering lab. He complimented the youth and scientists for fully harnessing the opportunities created by the government and launching private satellites. “We have succeeded and are using technology for empowering common citizens”, he said. 

“The country today remains the world leader in digital transactions. The success of Digital India has drawn the attention of the whole world today”, the Prime Minister said. He recalled the time when India used to import mobile phones whereas today, we take pride that mobile phones are being exported to other countries. 

“It is our resolve that India becomes ‘Viksti Bharat’ by 2047”, the Prime Minister remarked. He reiterated that the government has taken many significant steps to grab the opportunities that we have been looking out for. “India is ready to take the giant leap and not look back anymore”, the Prime Minister concluded.

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DS/TS