Union Minister Anurag Thakur Addresses FICCI National Conclave

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 tax payers and said that it is because of the honest tax payers 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.

UPI Success Narrative

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 betterment of life of the poor the Minister said 40 million houses, 100 million toilets, 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 kilometers to 150 thousand kilometers, number of airports has doubled from 74 to 150, 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.

Crediting Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for giving a strong and capable leadership to the country, the Minister said that today the heft of Indian passport has increased abroad and India has intervened in raging conflicts to extract its own people.

Shri Thakur said that while in the farm sector the Government has delivered on the promise of Cost plus 50%, domestic industries are today growing at a fast pace with Government support. he remarked that in the last ten years the Government has laid the foundation that will take the country on the path of becoming a developed nation by 2047.

The Minister exhorted our industry leaders to forge partnerships with those seeking to invest in India and exploit India's talents and capabilities that will contribute majorly to India's transformation into a Viksit Bharat.