Full text of Narendra Modi’s speech at Rising India Summit: PM stresses on development of eastern India, public participation in govt schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on a wide range of issues while addressing News18’s Rising India Summit in New Delhi. Right from discussing the need to bring development to the eastern region of the country to taking electricity and welfare schemes to the unreachable, Modi touched on several key issues plaguing India.

Modi called for greater public participation in the success of government schemes. He cited the Swachh Bharat Mission and digital payments as examples where citizens led positive change. He also emphasised on the Ujjwala scheme, under which gas connections are given to people in rural areas. In his speech, the prime minister also emphasized on India’s prestige rising at international level as well as efforts were undertaken by India in situations of international crises. Here’s a translated version of the full text of the prime minister’s speech:

Group Editor-in-Chief of Network 18 — Rahul Joshi — guests from India and abroad, friends from the media present here, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all thank you very much that you gave me the opportunity to join the Rising India Summit.

Friends, when we call rising, the first emotion that comes is that of going from darkness to light. Where we were, the situation in which we were, there is a sense of going ahead, moving towards a better future.

When we speak of this rise in terms of the country, the extension is too broad. The question is, what is Rising India then? Is the strengthening of economy Rising India, or is maintaining a record level of the Sensex Rising India, or is maintaing record level of foreign exchange reserves Rising India or is record FDI Rising India?

Colleagues, Rising India means to me the rise of the pride of the one billion India, the rise of country’s self respect. When the will power of these hundred and a half million people is united, their resolutions become one, then even the unachievable becomes achievable, even the impossible becomes possible.

This united will power is what fulfilling the resolve of New India today.

Brothers and sisters, in many countries there’s the concept that the government leads development and transformation and the people will follow. In the last four years we have changed this situation in India. Now the people lead the country and the government follows it.

You have seen yourself how the Swachh Bharat Mission has become a mass movement in such a short time. The media has also played a role in it as a partner.

In the fight against black money and corruption, citizens of the country have made digital payment their own strong weapon. India is one of the fastest growing markets in digital payments today .

The way people support every government action against corruption, is an evidence of how determined people are to get rid of the country’s internal evils.

Whatever our political opponents may speak, it’s because of this inspiration from the people of the country that the government could take big decisions and implement them. The decisions which were recommended decades ago, but were kept in the files, the laws which were passed decades ago but were not implemented under pressure of the corruption system, this government has enforced them, and now action is being taken at a large scale based on these laws.

Friends, the transformational shift coming in India is bcause of its citizens due, because of their willpower. This willpower is reducing the emotion of imbalance in the people of the country, in the regions of the country.

Brothers and sisters, whether the it’s emergence of the country, any society pr a person, if there is no sense of equality, then neither will the resolution be fulfilled nor the society. So if we look as a vision, then our government is making continuous efforts to eliminate this feeling of imbalance at the national level . What is the result of this, I want to explain it to the viewes of Network18 through a video.

Companions, Ujjwala is changing not just the kitchen but the picture of millions of families. This is ending a major imbalance in our social order.

My colleagues, I was in Manipur all day long before coming here. The inauguration of Indian Science Congress, then laying the foundation stone of a sports university, many important schemes for the North East have started today. As a prime minister, this was my 28th or 29th visit to the North East.

You think, why? Why is our government’s emphasis on eastern India and the North East is so much. Those who think that we are doing this for votes, they have not only been cut off from the land of the country but also the hearts of the people.

Companions, it’s very important to keep in mind the Emotional Integration and Demographic Dividend of eastern India.

That’s why our government operates on the ‘Act East and Act Fast For India’s East’ mantra. And when I say ‘Act East’, its expanse is not limited to the states of the North East. Rather eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, are also included.

This (region) has been a part of the country which was left behind in the development race. One of the major reasons for this was depressed attitude towards the development of this area. Hundreds of projects have either not started in this area, or have been stuck in the middle for decades. Our government has started the work of abolishing this imbalance and completing incomplete projects and stalled projects.

You will be surprised to know that the important gas cracker project in Assam was pending for 31 years. We started work on this project after coming to power.
Today, work is being done for the opening of closed fertilser plants in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Barauni in Bihar and Sindri in Jharkhand.
These plants will be supplied gas from pipelines being installed from Jagdishpur to Haldia. This pipeline will also develop a complete ecosystem of industries based on gas pipelines in major cities of eastern India.
It was because of the efforts of our government that the work of Paradip Oil Refinery in Odisha has increased and now Paradip is moving towards becoming an island of development. It was also because of our government’s attempt that work on the strategically important Dhola-Sadia bridge connecting Assam and Arunachal was completed at a fast pace.
Regardless of whether it is Road Sector or Rail Sector, continuous emphasis is being given to infrastructure in eastern India. The government is also promoting development of Waterways between Varansi and Haldia, which will play a major role in changing the industrial transport here.
To promote Connectivity, 12 new airports are buing built in eastern India under the UDAAN scheme. Six of these airports are being built in the North East. Just a few days ago, you may have noticed that a commercial flight landed in Sikkim for the first time.
When the matter of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences came to light, when it came to the new Indian Agricultural Research Institute, our government gave priority to eastern India.
This government has set up a Central university in Mahatma Gandhi’s Karmabhoomi East Champaran – Motihari.
Peers, millions of new employment opportunities are being created in these areas by government initiatives.

Moving away from the concept of ‘Distant Delhi’ , we have brought Delhi to the door of East India. With the mantra of Sabka Sath-Sabka Vikash, we are adding every part of the country to the mainstream of development.

Companions, I would like to show you a map. This map is witness to the fact that in the last four years, a huge imbalance in the whole country has ended and the villages of eastern India are illuminated.

I often mention that after independence, 18 thousand villages were without electricity. You will be surprised to know that about 13 thousand of these villages belonged to East India. Of these 13 thousand villages, 5 thousand villages were in the North East. The task of delivering electricity to these villages is in full swing.

Rather, now our government has started the Saubhagya scheme to connect every household with electricity. The government is spending more than Rs 16,000 crores on this.

This light which has arrived in the lives of the people of eastern India, will take them from Isolation to Integration to the brightness of Rising India.

In the corporate world, there is a saying that you can not manage what you can not measure. We have not only adopted this mantra in our methodology, but have taken it further even further — Measure to Manage and Manage to Create Mass Movement.

When Mass Movement is formed, when the government and the public participate on a broad scale, its results are excellent, far-reaching. I will give you an example from the Health Sector of the country .

We are advancing the Health Sector in a Multi Sectoral way by paying attention to these four pillars:

Preventive Health ,
Affordable Healthcare ,
Supply side interventions
Mission mode intervention
We have focussed on these four topics together. For health care in the country, if the Health Ministry works alone, it only creates silos, solutions do not come out. Our effort has been: No Silos, Only Solutions

In this campaign related to public, apart from the Health Ministry, we have involved other ministries such as sanitation, AYUSH Ministry, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Consumer Affairs and Women and Child Development Ministry put together. So, we have tried to determine the mix together with advancing the Goal.

If I speak of the first pillar, ie, Preventive Health, then this in not only the cheapest but also the easiest one.

We all know that cleanliness is the first requirement for a healthy life, and by emphasising on it, we activated the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. As a result, by the year 2014, 6.5 crore households had toilets in whole of India but now 13 million houses have toilets, ie, a double increase.

Today, the sanitation coverage has increased from 38 percent to 80 percent in the country. This increase is more than double. Apart from these cleanliness movemment, messages have also reached to every household dirt brings diseases along with it, while the cleanliness drives diseases away.

As a Preventive Health Care, Yoga has established a new identity for itself. Due to the activation of the Ayush Ministry, Yoga is becoming a mass movement around the world today.

We have brought the Wellness Center in this budget. The government’s efforts is to make Health Wellness Center in every major panchayat of the country.

We have also put special emphasis on the Immunization Programme. Before our government came, the growth rate of vaccination was just 1 percent in the country, which has increased to 6.7 percent today.

Peers, besides Preventive Healthcare making Healthcare Affordable is necessary, and so is making Healthcare Accessible. We have taken many steps to make healthcare accessible and affordable, and cheaper and accessible to the general public.

We activated the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers that is working in this direction. More than 3,000 Jan Aushadhi (public-medicine) centres have been opened across the country. More than 800 medicines are being provided at a reduced price.

To ensure hearth patients receive stents at low cost, we activated the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and it’s because of this special initiative that today the value of heart stent has decreased by 85 percent. Along with that , the prices of knee implants have also been controlled, which has reduced prices by50 to 70 percent.

In this budget, we have announced another big plan, and that is Ayushman India. The Ayushman Bharat Scheme is going to provide great help to poor people of the country. About 100 million families, that is, about 45 to 500 million citizens will be free from worrying about treatment. If there was a sickness in his family, then the Government of India and the insurance company would spend Rs 5 lakh in one year.

Colleagues, the Health Sector ‘s third largest piller is supply, supply side interventions. Our government is constantly trying to ensure necessary facilities connected with health are available.

A lack of doctors is felt in the country and especially in the villages. Our government has increased medical seats to deal with this.

Companions, when our government was formed in 2014, there were 52 thousand undergraduates and 30 thousand post-graduate seats in medical. Now, there are more than 85 thousand undergraduates and more than 46 thousand post graduate seats in the country.

Apart from this, new AIIMS and Ayurvedic Sciences Institutes is are being established in the country. Apart from this, there is also a plan to construct a medical college among every three parliamentary seats.

The direct benefit of these efforts will be to our youth as well as the poor people of the country. In the field of nursing and paramedicals, work is also being done to increase human resource. If medical professionals grow, then affordability and access will also increase.

Brothers and sisters, the fourth and very important pillar of the Health Sector is Mission mode intervention.

There are some challenges that need to be dealth with in a mission mode and only then it helps in tackling those challenges and getting results.

We have activated the Ministry of Women and Child Development for better health of mothers and children in the country, they remain free from diseases, to be healthy and strong. Under this, many programmes are being run today.

Prime Minister’s Safe Maternity Campaign And proper nutrition of mother and baby is being ensured under the Prime Minister’s Mata Vandana Yojana .

Last week, on International Women’s Day we started the Natioanl Nutrition Mission. This is the newest and biggest step towards making the country healthy. When children and mothers get the right nutrition they will also be sure of better health.

I agree — One size does not fit for all. That’s why our government is ensuring that a unique development model is developed for every sector.

Companions, I want to make you a participant in the happiness of the country, through a video.

The happeiness you are seeing on the face of the people is that of Rising India.

After all, how did these changes come?

You must remember that the country was drowned in darkness six years ago due to grid failure in July. What happened was a breakdown of a system, of governance .

The silos ‘s condition was such that the Ministry of Energy did not know what was the roadmap of the coal ministry. There was no coordination between Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Power Ministry.

The work to break the silos to find solution is also being conducted in a comprehensive manner.

Today, the P ower Ministry , Renewable Energy Ministry and Coal Ministry are working as a unit to find the best solution of India’s energy security.

If we get energy security from coal, then renewable energy can give us sustainable energy to build a better future for our future generations. That’s why we’re heading from power shortage to power surplus, from network failure to net exporter. The dream of One Nation-One Grid is also becoming true due to the efforts of the government.

Companions, the atmosphere of defeat-frustration-despair can never take any country forward. You have also seen that in the last four years, there has been a confidence in the people of the country, how courage has arisen in the systems that run the country. The changes that people are seeing in front of themselves, are seeing in their lives, every Indian has come to believe that 21st century India can go ahead by breaking its weaknesses, moving ahead of its weaknesses, and fulfil the dream of One India-Supreme India. This strong belief of people is the basis of Rising India .

Brothers and sisters, this is the reason why the whole world today, honouring Rising India, this rising of India, is giving respect. In the first ten years of the previous government, the number of President and President of India came in India, and the number of people who came to India in the last four years has very much said in itself. In the previous government, the largest leaders of the world, on average, came one year, now almost twice the President and the President of the country are coming to India every year.

This is a picture of Rising India, on which you all will be proud.

Companions, India has given a new direction not just to its own, but to the development of the whole world. India is leading the Solar Revolution all over the world today. You have seen how the International Solar Alliance was successfully organised five days ago. More than 60 countries have agreed to implement the Delhi Solar Agenda launched in this conference. In the matter of Climate Chage, India’s effort is one of the greatest services to all humanity in the 21st century.

Companions, in the last four years, the way India’s influence has increased in the international arena, continuous work has been done under an intelligent strategy. India has sent a message to the world of peace, development, and sustainable development.

India has raised issues which affect the world, whether it’s in the United Nations or G-20. Terrorism is not only a problem of a country or a region but it is a challenge for every country in the world, this is what India has established on international fora.

The impact of black money in different countries and how corruption prevents the development of the world, how it has become a challenge for Effective Financial Governance, has been raised only by India in the most vigorous way.

Friends, it is India’s confidence that where the whole world is working to eliminate TB by 2030, we have also decided to get rid of this disease 5 years ago, i.e. by 2025. I am confident that India will show the entire world by achieving these goals in 2025.

Brothers and Sisters, today, India Rising is not just two words for the world. These two words symbolise the power of 100 million Indians, which the whole world is bowing down to. This is the reason that India is now a member of organisations which it had been trying for years to get into.

After joining the Missile Technology Control Regime, India has been included into the “Wassenaar Arrangement” and “Australia Group”. India has won the elections in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Maritime Organization and the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The way India won in the International Court of Justice has been discussed worldwide.

Companions, this is the effect of the growing influence of India that when there is a crisis in Yemen, India is removing its citizens from there, other countries also appeal to India for help. You will be proud to hear that during the crisis, India had safely pulled out people of 48 countries.

Our policy, which has given importance to human values in diplomacy, has made the world realise that India is working not only for its own interests, but for the cause of global interest. Our mantra of development and development of everybody is not tied within the boundaries of the country.

Today, we are working not only for Ayushmann Bharat but for the world of Ayushman. The awareness that is coming around the world around yoga and Ayurveda is also a reflection of Rising India .

If we talk about the economy, India has strengthened the economic growth of the whole world as well as its partners in the last three-four years. The country which is only 3 percent of the World GDP, is today contributing seven times more in the growth of World economy .

India in performing well in all the Macro-Economic parameters — Inflation, Current Account Deficit , Fiscal Deficit, GDP Growth, Interest Rate, FDI Inflow.

In the world, India is spoken with hope and trust, and with full confidence. That is why all the rating agencies are improving in India’s rating.

Today, India’s name is also taken in the top three potential host economies of the world.
India is said to be one of the top two emerging market performers in the FDI Confidence Index .
The Anktadki World Investment Report mentioned India among one of the Favourite FDI Destinations.
In the ranking of the World Bank ‘s Ease of Doing Business, we have improved 42 points in just three years.
In the third quarter of the year 2017-18, India has achieved 7.2 percent growth rate. Economists are saying that this momentum will increase further.
Peers, before 2014, the country’s Tax System was identified as unfriendly, unpredictable and non-transparent by investors. Now, the situation is changing. GST has established India as one of the world’s largest economic markets.

Peers, the government is working with a holistic approach keeping in mind the aspirations of the poor, the lower middle class and the middle class:

In this budget, we have announced a new scheme called Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education i.e. RISE. Under this scheme, our government is going to spend Rs 1 lakh crore in the next four years to improve the education system of the country.

The government is also working on creating world class 20 institutes of eminence in the country. We are working with private and public institutes involved in higher education. Under this mission, financial assistance of Rs 10,000 crore will be given to 10 selected institutions of public sector.

In the same way, we are running programmes such as Stand Up India, Start Up India and Skill India Mission, to promote self employment among the country’s youth and especially entrepreneurs working in the MSME sector.

Especially, the Prime Minister’s Mudra Yojana is becoming a big medium for the empowerment of youth and women. Since the scheme has started, the government has sanctioned loan worth more than 11 crore. People have been given a loan of Rs 5 lakh crore without guarantee. Even in this year’s budget, we have decided to allocate Rs 3 lakh crore to the scheme.

If all these efforts are seen as a bouquet, then these works are being proven to fulfill the aspirations of the Middle Class and Urban Youth and are creating new employment opportunities.

I hope that what has been left behind in the mainstream of development whether it’s a person or an area, when they grow faster, justice will be done to his strengths and his resources. So, Rising India’s story will be more powerful.

In the end, I want to remind your media group of 2022 and again of the journey from conceptualisation to accomplishment. Did your group take any resolution? Were any roadmaps prepared? Did you think about what we should do in 2022 to help fulfill the dream of New India?

I would be very happy if your group accepts a challenge, promotes its resolution on its channels, show its follow-up too.

Companions, the hundred and fifty million citizens of this country, are a form of God. And every institution in the country needs to work together to build a nation, for nation welfare, and to pursue the journey of development.

I have many many good wishes for whatever resolution you have.

Thank you very much once again!