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Of Panch Prans, 4 Ds, 5 Ts and 2ab: PM Modi’s number count

In his Independence Day speech, Modi set out his broad vision for the next quarter of a century leading up to the centenary celebrations, labelling them the “Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have shown a fondness for using acronyms and numbers to explain their vision. Much like the PM did during his Independence Day speech on Monday, and has done before that.

In his Independence Day speech, Modi set out his broad vision for the next quarter of a century leading up to the centenary celebrations, labelling them the “Panch Pran of Amrit Kaal” — the five commitments for the next 25 years. The five pledges that Modi spoke of are the goal of a developed India by 2047, removing any trace of a colonial mindset, taking pride in our roots, unity amongst workers, especially women, and the duties and responsibilities of citizens.

In September 2014, months after he came to power, Modi addressed the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden in New York City in which he singled out three Ds — democracy, demographic dividend, and demand — as the three unique strengths of India that will take it to new heights. “These three things are present in one country, this is not there anywhere in the world. And on the basis of this India will cross new heights — it is my belief,” Modi said to loud cheers.

In February 2016, kickstarting the “Make in India” week in Mumbai, Modi built on his idea of three Ds and added one more, deregulation, to the list, saying these would help India an easy place to do business. At the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York in September 2019, Modi had a different take on the four Ds. The PM said the government was working hard to achieve the goal of a $5 trillion economy.

“Today, there are four important factors of India’s growth story which are difficult to find in the world together. These 4 factors are democracy, demography, demand, and decisiveness,” he said.

The following year, in September, Modi addressed a conclave on school education in the 21st century that the Ministry of Education organised under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. At the event, the PM emphasised the importance of five Es. “Our experiments should be the guiding principle of the New Age learning — Engage, Explore, Experience, Express, and Excel,” he said.

Earlier that year, in June 2020, Modi spoke of the three Ps in his address at the inauguration of the 95th Annual Plenary Session of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. “Moving forward with the Atma Nirbhar Bharat campaign and struggling with the Corona period, the topic of People, Planet and Profit that you have raised in this AGM today also holds immense importance. Some people think that these three are opposite to each other, and are contradictory, but it is not so. People, Planet and Profit are interlinked to each other. All three can simultaneously flourish and co-exist,” he said.

Before coming to power at the Centre, Modi, in an address to the BJP National Council, had also spoken of creating a globally recognised “Brand India” on the foundation of five Ts — talent, tradition, tourism, trade and technology.

Not only alliterations, the prime minister has also employed “formulae” in his speeches. One of his most-known ones is using the mathematical formula (a+b)2 to explain the ties between India and Canada. The relations between the two countries, the PM explained in Toronto in 2015,  were like the 2ab that appears when the formula is expanded.

In 2017, Modi came up with a new formula to explain India’s future. While launching a digital system developed to help the Supreme Court go paperless, the PM said that if the country had to adapt to new technologies and stay ahead of the curve, it would have to follow the equation “IT+IT = IT”, or Information Technology and Indian talent equals “India Tomorrow”.

Source:indianexpress.com

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