PM Modi at Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that real development was not possible without inclusivity as he listed out various measures taken by his government during the last eight years to ensure that the benefits of development reach all sections of the society. .
He was speaking after the earlier Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture, delivered by Tharaman Shanmugaratnam, a senior minister in the Singapore government in the national capital. Modi said the theme of the lecture – ‘Growth through Inclusiveness, Inclusiveness through Growth’ – reflects the challenges and dilemmas of today’s policy makers.
The Prime Minister said, “Is true development possible without inclusion? Can inclusion be thought of without development?”
“The gist of my experiences over 20 years as head of government is that without inclusion, real development is not possible. And, without development the goal of inclusion cannot be met… We have developed growth through inclusiveness. Took the path of and tried for inclusion of all,” Modi said.
According to the Prime Minister, the pace and scale of inclusion in the country in the last 8 years has been unprecedented. To make his point clear, Modi listed measures like providing gas connections to over 9 crore women, over 10 crore toilets for the poor, over 45 crore Jan Dhan accounts and 3 crore pucca houses for the poor.
He further said that before 2014, an average of 50 medical colleges were built in 10 years. However, 209 new medical colleges have been established in the last 7-8 years, which is four times more.
He told the gathering that in the last 7-8 years, the number of undergraduate medical seats has increased by 75 per cent and the annual total number of medical seats has almost doubled. India is not reforming compulsively, but “correcting with confidence” to prepare a road map for the next 25 years. He said reforms are a win-win option.
“Today’s India is preparing a road map for the coming 25 years with reforms with conviction rather than compulsive reforms. Earlier, big reforms in India happened only when earlier governments were left with no other option We do not consider reforms as a necessary evil but a win-win option that has national interest and public interest,” he said.
Even during the period of the pandemic, Modi said the government did not succumb to populism and adopted its approach to tackle the problems, focusing on the people and the MSMEs. The Prime Minister further said that his government has eliminated over 30,000 compliances to promote ease of doing business. “Our approach of minimum government with maximum output is yielding results,” he said.
Giving the example of Kovid vaccine, he said that private companies have done a great job. “Our government stands with them as partners in progress,” he said. He said that the time has come to encourage and recognize the private sector as a partner in progress. “We are moving in that direction,” he said.
In his lecture, Shanmugaratnam said that India should grow at 8-10 per cent for the next 25 years with more profound inclusivity. He said that India will have to accelerate reforms and reorient the role of the government to meet the challenges facing the country in the next 25 years.
Emphasizing that India should not shy away from multilateralism, he said that globalization offers a huge opportunity for the Indian economy. Those who say that globalization is taking a backseat have been proved wrong as global trade has increased post-COVID and surpassed pre-COVID levels.
He also said that India needs to focus on agriculture as it is very important. Shanmugaratnam, who is also the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said there is a need for co-creation and co-empowerment for better exploitation of resources.
Modi also paid tribute to former finance minister and BJP veteran Arun Jaitley. Remembering Jaitley, the Prime Minister said, “We all admired his oratory skills. His personality was full of diversity, his nature was friendly to all.”
Jaitley served as the Union Finance Minister in the first Modi government and wore many hats in public life, from a lawyer to a politician and a cricket administrator. He died in August 2019 at the age of 66 after a prolonged illness.
Read also: PM Modi attends first ‘Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture’ at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi