Government working with ethos of Pai Pai Se Gareeb Ki Bhalai says Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurates National
Conclave: 9 Saal – Seva, Sushasan, Gareeb Kalyan
India has gone from Fragile Five to Top Five in 9 years: Union Minister Anurag
Thakur
PM Modi has made the Tricolour the strongest flag in the world: Thakur
Union
Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnav today inaugurated the National Conclave:
9 Saal – Seva, Sushasan, Gareeb Kalyan at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The event
witnessed the presence of Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag
Thakur, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan.
Secretary, Min of I&B Apurva Chandra and CEO, Prasar Bharati, Gaurav
Dwivedi were also present on the occasion.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav made a
comparative presentation juxtaposing the performance of the governments before
2014 with the government since and said while the previous governance efforts
had become synonymous with scams, the current Government works with the ethos
of ‘Pai Pai Se Gareeb Ki Bhalai’ (every penny for the benefit of the poor).
This has been reflected in the way schemes and programmes have been implemented
keeping the poor and the destitute as its central pillar, he added.
The Minister underlined that owning a
house is a factor that brings a transformative change in a poor person’s life.
To that end, today 3.5 crore houses have been constructed in the country under
PM Awas Yojana bringing qualitative change in the lives of the poor.
The Minister said that the idea of
connecting every house with piped water connection was always considered a
behemoth, never to be attempted or achieved. But, he added, the Prime Minister
took it up as a challenge and today 12 crore people have water connections. At
the same time, he said the Government has strived to end the travesty that was
traditional chulhas and provided 9.6 crore families with gas cylinders.
He further spoke about the efforts of
the government to come through for the people in need and said that when the
world was struggling to fight the travails of the COVID19 pandemic, the
government overcame massive logistical challenges to bring free ration to 80
crore people. No government has spoken of fundamental human needs, like
toilets, that are the indicators of inclusive growth, during Independence Day
speeches. But PM Modi spoke about the construction of toilets in every house in
his speech from Red Fort. This has caused a revolution in the field of women
safety and sanitation with the construction of 11.72 crore toilets today.
Vaishnav said that India today runs the
world’s largest healthcare insurance programme under Ayushman Bharat that has
created provisions for free medicare up to Rs five lakh for the needy, the
total coverage which is more than the population of the USA and Russia combined.
Vaishnav credited the Prime Minister
with creating a new definition of social justice taking it away from
appeasement and towards empowerment.
The Minister said that domestic
infrastructure has seen an unprecedented makeover since 2014, which was largely
missing earlier due to a lack of proper mindset and thought process in the
past. He cited the creation of 74 airports in 9 years, a figure matching the
number created till 2014. He added that where 91 thousand kilometers of road
were created since independence, almost 54 thousand kilometers have been
constructed since 2014. India has gone from having no waterways till 2014 to
having 111 waterways today and India’s railway stations have world-class
facilities like airports.
The Minister said that India had lagged
in world economic rankings for a long time, but today India stands tall as the 5th largest economy. He further said
that India is well on its way to becoming the 4th largest
economy in another two years and the third largest in another six years.
The Minister spoke about the
government’s strong commitment to national security and said that when in past
India has been at the receiving end of major terror activities, today the
country has the means and willingness to respond to attacks in kind.
Anurag Thakur, while addressing the
audience gathered at the conclave, said that the past nine years have seen a
dramatic change in the life of the common people of India and the achievements
of the Government have surpassed expectations of the people. He exemplified
this by adding further that where India was a weak and ramshackle economy
riddled with corruption in the past, today it has covered the distance from
Fragile Five to Top Five economies of the world.
He further stated that while the
benefits of government schemes used to reach only a few in the past, the
government today works with the motto of Antyodaya, where the Government is
committed to the upliftment of the last person standing at the end of the
queue. Herein lies the secret of our efforts that have lifted 27% of people out
of poverty, he added. A combination of a sense of service, big ideas, good
governance, infusion of technology, and building transparency and
accountability into the delivery mechanism, are the things that have gone into
ensuring last-mile delivery of public services.
The Minister said that the government
has been steadfast in shedding legacies of the colonial past and adopting
modern and domestic symbols. This is evident in the creation of the Kartavya
Path and will be evident in the new parliament.
The Minister highlighted that the Prime
Minister had said that the youth had a critical role to play in shaping the
future of this country. To that end, the Minister credited the youth for
achieving a milestone where India can today boast of almost one lakh startups
and over hundred Unicorns.
The Minister said that while on the one
hand the country answered the Prime Minister’s call for Har Ghar Tiranga, the
same tricolor was used by students of other countries to get out of a conflict
zone during Operation Ganga. While surveys have called him the most popular
leader, Shri Thakur said that he has in fact made the tricolour the strongest
flag in the world.
Secretary Apurva Chandra welcomed all
the guests for the various thematic sessions during the day. He also welcomed
the audience from various sections of society.
The National Conclave on 9 years of the
Government is comprised of three thematic sessions after the inaugural session
and a valedictory session.
Session 1 “India: Surging Ahead”
moderated by Nitin Gokhale, Senior Journalist will see participation from
·
Sunil Bharti Mittal,
Founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises
·
Sangita Reddy, Joint
Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals
·
Debjani Ghosh, President of
NASSCOM
·
Surjit Bhalla, Former
Executive Director for International Monetary Fund, India
·
Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group
Chief Economic Advisor, State Bank of India
·
Deepa Sayal, President and
Patron in Chief, IWIL India
Session 2:
Jan Jan Ka Vishwas moderated by Richa Anirudh, Journalist will see
participation from
·
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Actor
·
Cynthia McCaffrey, UNICEF
Representative to India
·
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw,
Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited (Video message)
·
Padma Shri Shanti Teresa
Lakra, Nurse
·
Nikhat Zareen, Boxer
·
Anil Prakash Joshi,
Environmentalist Divya Jain, Co-founder, Seekho
Session 3: Yuva
Shakti: Galvanizing India moderated by Raunac, Radio Jockey, Red FM with the
following panelists
·
Ritesh Agarwal, CEO, OYO
Rooms Rishab Shetty, Actor
·
Amaan Ali Bangash, Musician
·
Viren Rasquinha, Former
Indian Hockey Captain
·
Yashodhara Bajoria,
Director, Espresso Technologies
·
Akhil Kumar, Boxer