Namaskar

Today is a memorable day not only for the young friends who are getting appointment letters, but also for the country. On this day in 1947, i.e. on 22 July, the Tricolour was adopted in its present form by the Constituent Assembly. Receiving appointment letters for government service on this significant day is a great inspiration in itself. Being in the government service, you need to ensure that you always enhance the glory of the tricolour and make the country proud. During the 'Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', as the country is working towards achieving the goal of development, being in the government service is a great opportunity. This is the result of your hard work. I congratulate all the youngsters who have received the appointment letters and my best wishes to your family members as well!

Friends,

During this 'Azaadi Ka Amritkaal', all the countrymen have taken a pledge to make India a developed nation in the next 25 years. The next 25 years are crucial for all of you as well as for India. Today, the world has started trusting India; there is an attraction towards India; and India's importance has grown around the world. So, we all need to take complete advantage of this current scenario.

You have seen that India has become the world's 5th largest economy from rank 10th in just 9 years. Today every expert is predicting that in a few years, India will be among the top-three economies of the world. It is going to be an extraordinary achievement for India to reach the top-three. That means employment opportunities are also going to increase in every sector and the income of the ordinary citizens is also going to increase. There cannot be a greater occasion than this for every government employee. There cannot be a more important time than this. It is my belief that your decisions in the interest of the country will speed up the development of the country. This opportunity, this challenge is in front of you. You have an unprecedented opportunity to serve the country in this 'amritkaal'. Your priority should be to make the lives of the people of the country easy and to eliminate hardship from their lives. No matter which department you are in, no matter which city or village you are in, always keep in mind that your work should reduce the difficulties and problems of the general public, increase the ease of living and also promote the dream of making the country developed within 25 years. Sometimes a small effort of yours can end several months of waiting for someone and can help him out. And always remember one thing that public is a form of God. The blessings that you get from the people, the blessings that you get from the poor are equal to the blessings of God. Therefore, if you work with the spirit of helping others and serving others, your fame will rise; and the biggest wealth in life is satisfaction, so you will find that satisfaction there.

Friends,

Many people in the banking sector are getting appointment letters in today's event. Our banking sector plays a huge role in the expansion of the economy. Today India is one of those countries, where the banking sector is considered to be the strongest. But this was not the case 9 years back. When greed for power gets priority over the national interest, catastrophe takes place in several ways, and there are various examples in the country of the kind of catastrophies that have taken place. Our banking sector has seen, suffered and experienced this during the previous government's regime. It is the digital age now. People avail banking services with their mobile phones, and use phone banking. But nine years ago, the concept of phone banking was different, the customs were different, the methods were different, the intentions were different. At that time, during that government's regime, phone banking was not for ordinary citizens like me and you. It was not for 140 crore countrymen. At that time, some powerful leaders close to a particular family used to call banks and arrange for loans worth thousands of crores for their loved ones. This loan was never repaid and there would be paperwork. To repay one loan, they would call the bank to get another loan to repay the second loan, and then get a third loan to repay the second loan. This phone banking scam was one of the biggest scams of the previous government. Due to this scam of the previous government, the country's banking system was completely shattered. In 2014, all of you gave us an opportunity to serve the country by electing us. After forming the government in 2014, we started working step by step to get the banking sector and the country out of the trouble. We strengthened the management of public sector banks and emphasized on professionalism. We created big banks by merging smaller banks in the country. We have ensured that an amount of up to Rs 5 lakh of a citizen deposited in the bank never sinks. It had become very important to regain the trust of the ordinary citizens towards the banks because many co-operative banks had started sinking. Common man's hard earned money was sinking and that's why we increased the limit from 1 lakh to 5 lakh so that 99% citizens could get their hard earned money back. Another important step taken by the government was to formulate laws like the Bankruptcy Code so that if a company was shut down for some reason, the banks would have minimal impact. Besides, we also cracked down on wrongdoers, confiscated the property of those who looted the banks. Today the result is in front of you. Public sector banks which used to be in news for making losses of thousands of crores of rupees and for NPA are now in news for making record profits.

Friends,

India's strong banking system and every employee of the bank, and their work in the last 9 years in line with the vision of the government, is a matter of great pride for all of us. All my employee brothers and sisters working in the banks have worked very hard and have brought the banks out of crisis. They have played a leading role in the development of the country's economy and these bank employees have never let me or my vision down; they have never disappointed me. I remember, when the Jan Dhan Yojana was started, people who had an old mindset used to ask me - "what will the poor do with bank accounts if they do not have money?" The burden on the banks will increase. How will the bank employees work? Negativity was widely spread. But my friends from the bank worked day and night to open the Jan Dhan accounts for the poor. The bank employees used to go to the slums and get people's bank accounts opened. Today around 50 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts are there in the country and it is because of the hard work and dedication of our employees working in the banks. It is because of the hard work of the bank employees alone that the government was able to transfer money directly to the bank accounts of crores of women during the Corona period.

Friends,

Some people used to make false allegations earlier saying that there was no system in our banking sector to help the people in the unorganized sector. You are very well aware of what used to happen in the regime of previous governments. But after 2014 the situation was no longer like that. When the government decided to give loans without guarantee to the youth under the Mudra Yojana, the people of the banks took this scheme forward. When the government doubled the loan amount for women self-help groups, it was the bank employees who provided financial help to more and more self-help groups. When the government decided to help the MSME sector during the Covid period, it was the bank employees who helped in saving the MSME sector by giving maximum loans and also saved the jobs of more than 1.5 crore people by saving the small industries of over 1.5 crore entrepreneurs. When the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana to send money directly to the bank accounts of the farmers, it was the bankers who left no stone unturned to make this scheme a success with the help of technology.

When the government started the Svanidhi scheme for the street vendors and hawkers who sell their goods on the pavement, our bankers worked hard for their poor brothers and sisters. Some bank branches have even personally reached out to them and have supported them with loans. Today, due to the hard work of our bank employees, more than 50 lakh street vendors have been able to get assistance from the bank. I appreciate and congratulate every bank employee and now that you are joining the banking sector, a new energy and a new belief will be infused, and a new spirit of doing something for the society will grow. Your hard work will be added to the hard work of the current employees. And I firmly believe that we want to strengthen the poorest of the poor through the banking sector. So today, you will also go back with a resolution letter apart from the appointment letter.

Friends,

When decisions are taken with the right intention and the right policies are made, its results are bound to be wonderful and unprecedented. The country has seen its evidence just a few days ago. As per the report of NITI Aayog, within just 5 years, 13.5 crore Indians in the country have moved above the poverty line. This success of India also includes the hard work of government employees. Whether it is a scheme to provide pucca houses to the poor, a scheme to construct toilets for the poor, a scheme to provide electricity connection to the poor, our government employees have carried many such schemes to the ordinary citizens in every village and household. When these schemes reached the poor, the morale of the poor was also boosted tremendously, and a new confidence was instilled. This success symbolizes that if we together step up the efforts to eradicate poverty from India, then poverty can be completely eradicated from India. And certainly every government employee of the country plays a major role in this endeavour. You have to be aware of every welfare scheme for the poor and also connect the public with these schemes.

Friends,

There is another dimension to the decreasing poverty in India. The Neo-middle class is continuously expanding in the country amidst the decreasing poverty. This is creating new employment opportunities. The growing neo-middle class in India has its own demands and aspirations. To meet this demand, manufacturing is taking place on a large scale in the country today. Today, when our factories and our industries have record production, our youth are the ones who benefit the most. Now-a-days new records are being created every other day, and new achievements are made. Now record mobile phones are exported from India. The number of cars sold in India in the first 6 months of this year is also encouraging. There are also record sales of Electric vehicles in India. All these factors are increasing jobs and employment opportunities in the country .

Friends,

Today the whole world is eyeing the talent of India. In many developed economies in the world, the age of people is increasing rapidly. Many countries of the world are filled with a large number of senior citizens. The young population is decreasing; the working population is decreasing. Therefore, this is the time for the youth of India to work very hard, to enhance their skills and capabilities. We have seen the kind of demand for India's IT talent, doctors, nurses, and our friends working in the construction industry in gulf countries. The respect towards Indian talent is continuously increasing in every country and in every sector. That's why in the last 9 years, the government's huge focus has been on skill development. Under the PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana, about 1.5 crore youth have been trained. The government is also setting up 30 Skill India International Centres so that our youth can be prepared for global opportunities. Today, the campaign to build new medical colleges, new ITI's, new IITs, technical institutes is going on in full swing across the country. Till 2014, there were only about 380 medical colleges in our country. This number has increased to more than 700 in the last 9 years. Similarly, there has been a huge increase in the number of nursing colleges. Skills that meet global demand are going to create lakhs of new opportunities for the youth of India.

Friends,

All of you are joining the government service in a very positive environment. Now you also have the responsibility of taking forward this positive thinking of the country. All of you should try to expand your aspirations as well. Continue the process of learning and self-development even after undertaking new responsibilities. To help you, the government has prepared an online learning platform iGOT Karmayogi. I urge all of you to try to take maximum advantage of this facility. Once again, I congratulate you and your family members for this new responsibility. And this new responsibility is a starting point. I hope you achieve many new heights in life. Wherever you get a chance to serve, every citizen of the country should get a lot of new strength to fulfil his/her dreams because of you. I hope you fulfil your every dream, resolution, and this responsibility well. My best wishes to you for the same. Thank you very much.

DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.

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DS/LP/IG/AK