 "PM Modi")
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said that in the past seven and a half years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government has reached out to the poorest of the poor with facilities unheard of and unimagined in India.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Goyal lauded the initiatives of the PM Modi-led government and said, "PM Modi over the last 7.5 years, through a series of initiatives... reached out to the poorest of the poor, to the last man at the bottom of the pyramid [with] facilities which were unheard of, unimagined in India."
Goyal enlisted initiatives like Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and the JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity as initiatives that helped the Indian government to take direct benefit and to transfer it to every household, eliminating middlemen and corruption.
He further mentioned that the Indian healthcare programme is the largest in the world and provides over 50 crore Indians with free healthcare. He also underlined the cooking gas and the toilet initiatives of the government.
Expressing hope of India's bright future, Goyal said, "To my mind, it is that comprehensive thinking of ease of living, of providing a better quality of life for the people that are converting the country to becoming Atmanirbhar-- self-reliant. What PM also said there are opportunities galore. India is a land of opportunity, openness and growth in the future. I think that's what will provide jobs to the people, will provide a better quality of life to the people; ultimately, as the economy grows, as new and new businesses come in, as infrastructure develops, as more and more people get quality healthcare and education, I think the future is very bright for our country."
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Highlighting 'transparency in the government's working, Goyal said that that five crore piped drinking water (Nal se Jal initiative) connections were given under the Jal Jeevan mission, the data of which is available on the dashboard for the world to see.
The Union Minister, while talking of the improved image of India overseas, said, "It's been a process. When we came to govt in 2014 there was a certain image. And these things are something that the businessmen sense: how they have to do the business, what are the impediments, how does one have to keep going to govt for everything. But post-2014, PM Modi, through relentless efforts, has tried to change the mindset of the way the govt works, tried to bring in the highest standards of probity and integrity in the govt, has taken a totally transparent set of policy-driven measures which have been implemented over the past 7 years."
"Businessmen sense this very fast. They don't need lies. They don't need officers roaming around govt offices anymore, mails are good enough and decisions are policy-driven; not supportive of one or the other, not discriminating between one or the other. I could sense that that has really found traction in the UAE particularly and there is a lot of appreciation for the fact that they find rules-based, fair-played, transparent business opportunities in India," he added.
Notably, Goyal also informed that even in the tough times of the COVID-19 pandemic, India's international business from April 2020 to March 2021 was at 97 per cent.
"Our goods export was at 94 pc level of the previous year, even during the worst period of COVID-19. For that matter, in the current year, in the first six months, April to September, we have an all-time high export of 197 billion dollars, an unheard thing in India, against a full year of export of 290 billion dollars last year; growth of probably 40-45 per cent," he added.
During his visit to Dubai, Piyush Goyal co-chaired a meeting of the UAE-India High-Level Joint Task Force. He also inaugurated the Indian Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020.
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