She was addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament
New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday, Jan 31, said Indiais emerging as a solution-provider to the world and every citizen’s confidence is peaking, a special report by Aditi Tandon in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.
Addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament, the President said in the nine years of the BJP rule, people had witnessed many positive changes for the first time ever, especially with regard to the government schemes covering SCs, STs, OBCs, women and youth.
“The biggest change is that today every Indian’s confidence is at its peak. The world’s impression of India has changed. Once India looked to others to solve most of its problems, but today the country is emerging as a provider of solutions to most of the issues faced by the world at large.
“During this short period of time, a large segment of the population who had waited for decades for basic amenities, have now finally been able to get them ,” said the President in her 65-minute speech dotted with frequent applause led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
All the parties were present at the joint address, except for the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, who chose to boycott the President’s address..
The Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi attended the address, but the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was unable to attend, stuck in Srinagar due to inclement weather.
With nine states all set to go to polls this year followed closely by the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the President congratulated the people for electing a stable government for two consecutive terms.
“My government has always kept the country’s interest paramount and shown the will to completely transform the policies and strategies whenever required. From surgical strikes to a firm crackdown on terrorism, from a befitting response to every misadventure from LoC to LAC, from abrogation of Article 370 to triple talaq, this government has been recognised as a decisive government”.
“And it was only account of these factors that the government has been able to deal with the biggest calamity in 100 years and the conditions that arose thereafter as a result,” the President said.
Calling upon citizens to do their utmost in the coming 25 years of Amrit Kaal leading to the centenary of Independence, she said India today has a government which genuinely seeks a permanent solution to problems of the poor and is working at an unprecedented speed and scale.
“The debate today is no longer about policy paralysis but India is being recognised for its rapid development and far-sighted decisions,” said the President describing corruption as the “the biggest enemy of democracy and social justice.
“There has been a relentless fight against corruption in the last few years,” she said, citing an increasing social consciousness and that no sympathy should be shown to the corrupt in society.
The President said the government had chosen the path of consolidating heritage (virasat) and giving priority to development (vikas).
“Today, on the one hand, Ayodhya Dham is being constructed in the country, while on the other hand, the modern Parliament House is also being built. On the one hand, we have constructed Kedarnath Dham, Kashi Vishwanath Dham and Mahakal Mahalok, on the other hand, our government is also building medical colleges in every district. We are developing shrines; also, India is becoming a major space power in the world,” said the President, noting that all traces of slavery are being shed, as evidenced in the renaming of Raj Path to Kartavya Path and installation of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose statue along Kartavya Path.
The President said the government had heeded to and nurtured the aspirations of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, which were most deprived of the benefits of development.
“My government has always kept the country’s interest paramount and shown the will to completely transform the policies and strategies whenever required. From surgical strikes to a firm crackdown on terrorism, from a befitting response to every misadventure from LoC to LAC, from abrogation of Article 370 to triple talaq, this government has been recognised as a decisive government”.
She listed a range of social and physical infrastructure benefits while stressing “the unprecedented and unparalleled scale of government work”, saying: “After the formation of my government, on an average, 11,000 houses were built every day for the poor in India, under the Aawas Yojana, an average of 2.5 lakh people got connected to broadband every day, over 55,000 gas connections were given daily, loans worth more than Rs 700 crore were disbursed daily.”
She said one medical college came up every month in the last eight to nine years and while only 145 medical colleges opened between 2004 and 2014, 260 medical colleges were started during the tenure of the BJP government from 2014 to 2022.
Overall, the President painted a picture of India’s multifarious development, including how the country was reaping the fruits of ‘Make in India’ and was working to manufacture semiconductor chips and aeroplanes at home.
“Our defence exports have grown six times,” she said, adding that India had emerged as a country connecting today’s divided world.
“India is today among the countries that are reinforcing the trust in the global supply chain. Therefore, today, the world is looking towards India with high hopes,” said the President, hailing India’s G-20 presidency and noting that the current phase is the “best phase of India’s global relations”.
.”With the President’s address the Budget Session of Parliament commenced.
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