India has emerged as the fifth largest economy in the world and this is not an ordinary achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.
“Recently, India achieved the feat of becoming the world’s fifth largest economy. This achievement gave us confidence to work harder and achieve bigger goals in this Amrit Kaal,” Modi said.
“This is no ordinary progress. It fills every Indian’s heart with pride. We need to maintain this enthusiasm,” he added.
The Prime Minister was virtually addressing a mega medical camp organised in Olpad area of Surat city in Gujarat when he made the remarks.
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On September 2, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that India had surged past the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest economy in the world. The latest change in rankings is based on quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) numbers in current dollars for the period ending December 2021. India increased its lead over the UK in the quarter ending March, IMF data showed.
Besides, Modi lauded the Gujarat government for its several welfare reforms and referred to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state and Centre as “double-engine government”.
“As many as three crore (30 million) houses were built by the government across the country for the poor in the last eight years. Of these, nearly 10 lakh (one million) houses were constructed in Gujarat alone,” he said, referring to the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme.
“Today, 97% of rural households in Gujarat are receiving tap water. Under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi, ₹2 lakh crores have been directly transferred to the accounts of the country’s farmers,” he said.
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Farmers earlier used to get nothing despite tall promises made by previous governments at the Centre, he said. “But, the interests of farmers are always a priority for our double engine government. That is the reason why farmers of the country and Gujarat give us their blessings,” he added.
The Prime Minister also hailed Gujarat’s health infrastructure, saying the state has a robust network of multispeciality hospitals.
“The number of medical colleges has gone up from 11 to 31 in the last two decades. An All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is coming up (in Rajkot) and several new medical colleges are also proposed for the state,” he said.
Later in the day, Modi also virtually addressed the inaugural ceremony of ‘Kalam no Carnival’ Book Fair organised by Navbharat Sahitya Mandir in Ahmedabad. (Hindustan Times)
