While the nation is gearing up to celebrate its 75 th year of Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, a few days ago, called on the people to make the next 25 years, i.e., when India will hit a century of Independence, glorious with new thresholds, aspirations and dreams and resolve to build a strong, prosperous and self-reliant nation. Indians are reaping the fruits of the planned and determined efforts made by the Modi government in the last few years to build a strong, prosperous and a self-reliant India. India’s journey in the last 8 years has been amazing. Right from ensuring that the poor and the underprivileged receive the benefits from the various government schemes and thus bringing them into the mainstream of development to conducting air strikes and thus warning the forces, trying to create unrest in India, to mend their ways and not undermine the country. And hence owing to all this, it is believed that India will truly emerge as a self-sufficient, prosperous and a self-reliant nation. This is nothing but an overview of what the Modi government has done in the last 8 years…
Let us recall the
days before Modi government came to power in 2014. The Pakistan supported
terrorism was at its peak and terrorist attacks were rampant during the period
from 2004 to 2014. During this decade, there were series of bomb blasts across
places and thousands of innocent lives were lost. Also, the terror attack in
Mumbai on November 26, 2008 by a handful of Pakistani militants clearly
underlined how deep terrorism had got rooted in our country. Terrorist attacks
had increased to an extent that doubts could be raised if any government system
even existed in the country. There were rampant attacks and strikes by the
Pakistani Army near the Line of Control, killing and beheading the Indian soldiers.
It was during this time that the then Pakistani Prime Minister had the audacity
to publicly humiliate the then Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Even
China had not missed the opportunity to infiltrate India. It was during the
tenure of the United Progressive Alliance government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh
when China had grabbed 38,000 square kilo meters of land from India. This fact
was admitted by the United Progressive Alliance government in its reply to a
question in the Rajya Sabha. In a reply to a question asked by BJP MP YS
Choudhary, the then minister of state for Foreign Affairs E. Ahmed had
confessed it. After the Modi government came to power, China’s intrusion was
dealt with in a befitting manner. In June 2020, when the Chinese Army in Ladakh
had launched an attack on the Indian Army, the latter retaliated in the similar
manner. The Chinese Army had not expected such resistance from the Indian
soldiers. In fact, China, after the 2017 Dokhlam incident of Bhutan, had sensed
that there would be major political changes in India after the Modi government
came to power. The Indian Army had stopped China’s Red Army from indulging in
construction activities in Bhutan’s Dokhlam area. The surgical strike of 2016
and the Balakot air strike of 2019 had taught a good lesson to the Pakistani
military and the government who were actively supporting the terrorist
activities in India.
The entire world was
stunned to see this constantly evolving changed India. India has never
advocated aggression in the international arena. It has always retained its
tolerant attitude against the aggression and intrusions by its neighboring
countries. The Modi government gave a befitting reply in a language understood
by these neighboring nations and re-introduced a strong India to the world. Now
the enemy nations will think 100 times before indulging in any such acts.
While creating a
protective shield around the country, the Modi government worked towards making
the intelligence system strong and efficient and thus curbed the domestic
terrorist activities. Between 2014 and 2022, i.e., during the tenure of the Modi government, except for the
three incidents of terrorist attacks – the Pathankot airbase attack on January
2, 2016, the Uri attack in Kashmir in September 2016 and the Pulwama attack in
2019, our security forces were successful in curbing the activities of
Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. The Modi government succeeded in creating an
image of a strong and vigilant nation.
The Modi government
has, in the last eight years, taken certain decisive steps to protect the
country from both internal and external threats whilst making India a wealthy
and prosperous nation. These efforts are slowly reaping the benefits. This has
reflected in the record growth of the country’s exports. India’s exports in the
month of June 2022 were 64.91 billion dollars which was almost 23 per cent more
as compared to 2021. Through the various government initiatives like Startup
India, Make In India and Atmanirbhar Bharat, the
government tried to encourage the youth and other enterprising companies to
research, develop, manufacture and assemble products within India. The
initiative also created a conducive environment for investments to help develop
modern and efficient infrastructure and to open up new sectors for foreign
investments.
A couple of years
ago, India had to import products to manufacture toys. China accounted for the
largest (80 per cent) share in toy imports. Owing to the planned efforts of the
Modi government, this import of toys reduced by almost 70 per cent whereas the
export of toys made in India increased by 61 per cent. The Indian toy market
was largely dominated by cheap Chinese toys. This hegemony was broken by the
effective implementation of the Make In India initiative. Today, India’s toy
exports have reached USD 326 billion in 2021-22.
Also, India’s export of agricultural products has reached a record high of $ 50 billion in 2021-22. These export figures are for the first ten months of the financial year i.e from April 2021 to January 2022. Last year, India’s export of agricultural products was $ 32.66 billion during this same period. Export of wheat has reached 70 lakh tonnes. India’s rice export in 2021-22 has reached a whopping 210 lakh tonnes which is expected to reach 230 lakh tonnes in 2022-23. Also, the Kisan Railway, that has been started for fast transportation of agricultural goods within the country, is gaining momentum. All these efforts are leading to increased incomes of the farmers.
The Modi government has also launched several schemes like the Ujwala Yojana, the Matru Vandana, the Jan Dhan Yojana, Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Janaushadhi Pariyojana to make quality generic medicines available at affordable prices to all, POSHAN Abhiyan and the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. Due to the Jan Dhan Yojana, the government subsidies were directly deposited in the bank accounts of the deprived and the needy. Through the Ayushman Bharat Yojana introduced to provide medical aid to the poor and underprivileged, nearly 3.28 crore people have been benefitted from the scheme so far. To ensure that the underprivileged receive the benefit from this scheme, the Ayushman cards have been distributed to over 18 crore people. Also, nearly 8,694 Pradhan Mantri Janaushadhi Kendras have been started across the country to provide medicines to the poor at affordable rates.
In order to ensure
that the poor do not starve to death during the lockdown imposed to tackle
Corona pandemic, 5 kgs of wheat, rice and pulses were distributed free to over
80 crore people through the Garib Kalyan Yojana. Through this Yojana, till
March 2022, nearly 759 lakh metric tonnes of food grains were distributed to 80
crore beneficiaries in the country. The Modi government has, so far, spent more
than Rs 3 lakh crore on this scheme. During the lockdown, businesses of various
street vendors and small shop owners were closed down for several months. The
Modi government offered a helping hand by sanctioning them loans at lower
interest rates for their working capital. Over 29 lakh people have availed the
benefit of the self-financing scheme. By increasing the ethanol content in fuel
to 10 per cent, it has greatly benefitted the sugarcane growing farmers as
well. The Modi government has also strengthened the road infrastructure in the
country by giving priority to the construction of expressways, national
highways, roads, and bridges.
In short, the Modi
government, in the last 8 years, has been successful in laying the foundation
of a prosperous, self-sufficient and a powerful India. It cannot be claimed
that the government has achieved all its objectives, but one can definitely
appreciate the fact that the nation is slowly progressing towards achieving the
goal of becoming a prosperous nation.
(Article Pre-Published in Times of India - Online, 08 August 2022)
Keshav
Upadhye, chief spokesperson
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