Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, listed out the steps taken by his government to promote inclusive growth. He said nine crore free cooking gas connections have been given, 10 crore toilets have been constructed and 45 crore bank accounts have been opened in the last eight years.
Real growth is not possible without inclusion and without growth the goal of inclusion too cannot be accomplished, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday at the inaugural Arun Jaitley Memorial lecture. India is preparing a roadmap for the coming 25 years with “reforms by conviction” rather than “reforms by compulsion” as the government does not consider reforms as a necessary evil but a win-win choice with national and public interest, he added.
The PM said the government was treating the private sector as a partner in growth. “I want to ask this question to all of you. Is real growth possible without inclusion? Can inclusion be thought of without growth?…the gist of my experiences of 20 years as head of government is that without inclusion, real growth is not possible. And, without growth the goal of inclusion too cannot be accomplished,” he noted.
The lecture was delivered by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister, Government of Singapore. “India needs much higher growth and much deeper inclusivity … India must grow by at least 8 per cent to 10 per cent over the next 25 years,” he said, adding that India needs to achieve higher economic growth by focusing on exports and expanding production-linked incentive for more sectors.
Prime Minister Modi, meanwhile, listed out the steps taken by his government to promote inclusive growth. He said nine crore free cooking gas connections have been given, 10 crore toilets have been constructed and 45 crore bank accounts have been opened in the last eight years. “Prior to 2014, on an average 50 medical colleges used to be set up in 10 years, he added. However, in the last 7-8 years, 209 new medical colleges have been set up, which is four times more. In the last 7-8 years, the number of undergraduate medical seats has increased by 75 per cent and the number of annual total medical seats has almost doubled,” he noted.
The country is preparing a roadmap for the coming 25 years with reforms by conviction rather than reforms by compulsion, the PM said. “Earlier, major reforms took place in India only when the earlier governments were left with no other option. We do not consider reforms as a necessary evil but a win-win choice, in which there is national interest and public interest.”
Modi said India’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic is reflective of choosing a people-centric policy adopted by the government and not taking measures based on populist impulse.
Source:indianexpress.com