New Delhi: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Anurag Thakur today addressed FICCI’s National Conclave.
Speaking on the occasion on the theme Viksit Bharat@ 2047: Viksit Bharat & Industry, Shri Thakur first expressed his gratitude to taxpayers and said that it is because of the honest taxpayers that the Government has been able to direct every penny of the corpus thus collected towards social sector.
Stating that previously when only a fraction of the allocated money was reaching the intended beneficiaries, today the Government has ensured that all of the money released reaches the recipient directly in their bank accounts.
Citing UPI as an example of the resolve of the Government to deliver on its promises, he said that there were a lot of doubts about its effectiveness when UPI was launched, but today UPI has penetrated all sections of society and all corners of the country. “Today 46 percent of all digital payments in the world are made in India and the world is looking up to us for our technological prowess”, he added.
Listing the major achievements of the Government towards the betterment of life of the poor the Minister said 40 million houses, 100 million toilets, and over 100 million LPG cylinders have been provided while over 130 million tap water connections have been installed. There are over 600 million Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries and over 800 million people are receiving free food.
He also underlined the Government’s focus on infrastructure development in the country over the last ten years and said that national highway construction has gone from 90 thousand kilometres to 150 thousand kilometres, the number of airports has doubled from 74 to 150, the number of AIIMS has gone up from 7 to 23 and IITs from 12 to 19 and the length of rural roads has doubled. These along with other measures have placed India in the top five economies of the world today.
