The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the new campus of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics at Palasamudram, Sri Sathya Sai District in Andhra Pradesh today. He also took a walkthrough of the exhibition showcased on the occasion. The Prime Minister also interacted with Officer Trainees of the 74th and 75th batches of the Indian Revenue Service (Custom & Indirect Taxes) as well as officer trainees of the Royal Civil Service of Bhutan. 

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister congratulated everyone for the inauguration of the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics at Palasamudram. Highlighting the speciality of the region of Palasamudram, the Prime Minister said that it is associated with spirituality, nation building and good governance and represents the heritage of India. He mentioned Shri Satya Sai Baba’s birthplace in Puttaparthi, the great freedom fighter Padma Shri Kallur Subba Rao, renowned puppetry artist Dalavai Chalapathi Rao and the good governance of the glorious Vijaynagar Empire as sources of inspiration from the region. He expressed confidence that the new campus of NACIN will create new dimensions of good governance and give a boost to trade and industry in the nation. 

Noting Thiruvalluvar Day today, the Prime Minister quoted the great Tamil sage and underlined the role of revenue officers in collecting taxes that lead to people’s welfare in a democracy. 

PM Modi earlier visited Veerbhadra Temple in Lepakshi and heard the verses of Ranganatha Ramayan. The Prime Minister participated in Bhajan Keertan with the devotees. Noting the belief that Ram Jatayu Samvad took place nearby, the Prime Minister said he is undergoing an 11-day special anushthan before the Pran Pratishtha at the temple at Ayodhya Dham. He expressed gratitude for being blessed at the temple during this pious period. Acknowledging the atmosphere of Ram Bhakti pervading the country, the Prime Minister pointed out that Shri Ram’s inspiration goes beyond devotion. He said that Shri Ram is such a great symbol of good governance that he can be a great inspiration for NACIN too. 

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister said that the very idea of Ram Rajya is the notion behind true democracy. He highlighted Mahatma Gandhi’s life experience as the reason behind his backing of the Ram Rajya ideology and spoke about a nation where every citizen’s voice is heard and everyone gets their due respect. “It is said about the citizens of Ram Rajya”, the Prime Minister said quoting a Sanskrit shloka, “Ram Rajya Vasi (citizen), Keep your head high and fight for justice, treat everyone as equal, protect the weak, hold Dharma on the highest level, You are Ram Rajya Vasis”. He underlined that Ram Rajya was established on these four pillars where everyone could walk with their heads held high and with dignity, every citizen is treated as equal, the downtrodden are protected, and Dharma holds paramount importance. “In the 21st century”, the Prime Minister said, “as administrators who enforce the rules and regulations of these modern institutions, you must focus on these four goals and keep them in mind.”

The Prime Minister also mentioned Swami Tulsidas’s description of the tax system in the Ram Rajya. Quoting Ramcharit Manas, the Prime Minister highlighted the welfare aspect of taxation and every paisa of tax received from people would go into the welfare of the people to stimulate prosperity. Further elaborating this PM Modi talked about the tax reforms in the last 10 years. He recalled multiple, non-transparent tax systems of earlier times. “We gave the country a modern system in the form of GST and simplified income tax and introduced faceless assessment. All these reforms have resulted in record tax collection”, the Prime Minister said. ‘We are returning people’s money through various schemes’, he added. He informed that the IT exemption limit was raised from the income of  2 lakh to 7 lakh rupees. Tax reforms after 2014 have resulted in tax savings of about 2.5 lakh crore rupees for the citizens. He said that the number of taxpayers is consistently increasing in the country as they feel happy that their tax money is put to good use. “Whatever we took from people, we returned it to people and this is good governance and the message of Ram Rajya”, he said. 

The Prime Minister also highlighted the special attention paid to the optimum utilization of resources in Ram Rajya. Pointing out the past government which tended to stall, shelve and divert projects causing huge losses to the nation, the Prime Minister drew an analogy to Lord Ram‘s conversation with Bharat cautioning him against such tendencies and said, “I am confident that you complete tasks which cost less and give more benefit without wasting time.” He highlighted that in the last 10 years, the present government has kept the cost in mind and laid emphasis on completing the projects on time.

Once again quoting Goswami Tulsidas, PM Modi highlighted the need to create a system that supports the poor and weeds out the non deserving. He informed that in the last 10 years, 10 crore fake names have been weeded out of the documents. “Today, every paisa reaches the bank account of the beneficiary who is entitled to it. Fight against corruption and action against corrupt people has been the priority of the government”, he said. 

PM Modi underlined that the positive results of this belief can be witnessed in the development works carried out in the nation as he apprised the nation about the latest report released by NITI Aayog yesterday which states that almost 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 9 years by the efforts of the present government. Calling it a historic and unprecedented achievement, especially in a nation where slogans for eradicating poverty have been raised for decades, the Prime Minister said that it is the result of the government’s priority for the welfare of the poor since coming to power in 2014. The Prime Minister expressed the belief that the poor of this country have the potential to defeat poverty if they are given the means and resources. “We can see this becoming a reality today”, he added. He stated that the government spent on health, education, employment and self-employment, and increasing the facilities for the poor. “When the potential of the poor strengthened and facilities were provided, they started coming out of poverty”, he said noting that it is another good news before the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. “Poverty can be reduced in India, this is going to fill everyone with a new belief and will increase the confidence of the country”, he remarked. PM Modi credited the reduction in poverty to the rise of the neo-middle class and the proliferation of the middle class. He said that people in the world of economy realize the potential of the growth of neo-middle class and their contribution towards economic activities. “In such a situation, NACIN must fulfil its responsibility with more seriousness.

PM Modi further elaborated his Sabka Prayas call from the ramparts of the Red Fort by illustrating it with the life of Lord Ram. He recalled Shri Ram’s wise use of resources in his fight against Ravan and converting them into a massive force. He concluded by asking the officers to realize their role in nation-building and called for collective efforts to increase the country's income, and investment and enhance ease of doing business. 

Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Shri S. Abdul Nazeer, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Y S Jahan Mohan Reddy, Union Minister for Finance, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Shri Sanjay Kumar Agarwal were present on the occasion among others.

Background

In a step towards realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of improving governance through Civil Service Capacity Building, the new state-of-the-art campus of National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) at Palasamudram, Sri Sathya Sai District, Andhra Pradesh was conceptualized and built. Spread in 500 acres, the academy is the apex institution of the Government of India for capacity building in the field of Indirect Taxation (Customs, Central Excise and Goods and Services Tax) and Narcotics Control Administration. The national-level world-class training institute will impart training to the officials of the Indian Revenue Service (Custom & Indirect Taxes) as well as to the central allied services, state governments & partner nations.

With the addition of this new campus, the NACIN will focus on the use of new-age technologies such as Augmented & Virtual Reality, Blockchain as well as Artificial Intelligence and other emerging Technologies for training and capacity building.

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