Government Working With Ethos Of Every Penny For The Benefit Of The Poor: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Highlighting the Government of India's achievements over the last nine years, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the current dispensation works with the ethos of ‘pai pai se gareeb ki bhalai (every penny for the benefit of the poor)'.

It has been reflected in the way schemes and programmes have been implemented, keeping the poor and destitute as its central pillar, he said.

Inaugurating the National Conclave: 9 Saal – Seva, Sushasan, Gareeb Kalyan at Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday (27 May), Vaishnaw made a comparative presentation juxtaposing the performance of governments before 2014 alongside the government since and said the previous governance efforts had become synonymous with scams.

The Railway Minister underlined that owning a house is a factor that brings a transformative change in a poor person’s life. To that end, 3.5 crore houses have been constructed in the country under PM Awas Yojana, bringing qualitative change in the lives of the poor.

He said the idea of connecting every house with a piped water connection was always considered a behemoth, never to be attempted or achieved. But, he said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took it up as a challenge and today 12 crore people have water connections.

At the same time, he said the government has worked to end the travesty that was traditional chulhas and provided 9.6 crore families with gas cylinders.

He further spoke about the efforts of the government to come through for the people in need and said that when the world was struggling to fight the travails of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government overcame massive logistical challenges to bring free ration to 80 crore people.

No government has spoken of fundamental human needs, such as toilets, which are indicators of inclusive growth, during Independence Day speeches.

PM Modi spoke about the construction of toilets in every house in his speech from the Red Fort. This has caused a revolution in women's safety and sanitation, with the construction of 11.72 crore toilets.

Vaishnaw said India today runs the world’s largest healthcare insurance programme under Ayushman Bharat that has created provisions for free medicare up to Rs 5 lakh for the needy.

The total coverage is for a population more than that of the United States and Russia combined.

Vaishnaw credited the Prime Minister with creating a new definition of social justice, taking it away from appeasement and towards empowerment.

The Minister said that domestic infrastructure had seen an unprecedented makeover since 2014, which was largely missing earlier due to a lack of proper mindset and thought process.

He cited the creation of 74 airports in nine years, a figure matching the number created all the way until 2014.

He added that whereas 91,000 km of roads were created since independence, almost 54,000 km have been constructed since 2014.

India has gone from having no waterways till 2014 to having 111 waterways today, and India’s railway stations have world-class facilities.

The Minister said India had lagged in world economic rankings for a long time, but today India stands tall as the fifth-largest economy.

He further said India is well on its way to becoming the fourth-largest economy in another two years and the third-largest in another six years.

The Minister spoke about the government’s strong commitment to national security and said that while in the past India had been at the receiving end of major terror activities, today the country has the means and willingness to respond to attacks in kind.