Deccan Chronicle

Modi: India’s borders more secure after 2014

PM says corruption was viewed essential before 2014

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Shimla, May 31: Corruption was viewed as an essential part of government before 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday and asserted that India saw a sea change in the last eight years due to the BJP-led dispensati­on’s zero-tolerance towards graft.

At a rally in Shimla’s Ridge Maidan to mark the eighth anniversar­y of becoming Prime Minister, Modi said, “Now our borders are more secure than they were before 2014.”

He said after coming to power, his government pruned nine crore fake names from the list of beneficiar­ies of various schemes.

“Be it Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or scholarshi­p or any other scheme, we have eradicated the scope of corruption through direct transfer of benefits. We have transferre­d over `22 lakh crore to the bank accounts of beneficiar­ies of various schemes through direct benefit transfer,” Modi said.

He claimed that poverty was on the decline in the country and even the internatio­nal agencies were admitting it.

Modi said that before 2014, there was news about various scams but now his government’s developmen­t schemes and zero-tolerance against corruption are discussed. “Before 2014, corruption was viewed as an essential part of government,” he alleged.

About his government’s measures to combat the Covid pandemic, the prime minister said nearly 200 crore vaccine doses have been administer­ed in India so far.

India exported Covid vaccines to various countries and Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi industrial unit played a vital role in manufactur­ing those jabs, he said.

“Now India extends a

hand of friendship not under compulsion but to help others as was done by providing Covid vaccines to several countries,” the Prime Minister added.

Referring to the underconst­ruction AIIMS in Bilaspur, he said, “We plan to build a medical college in every district of the country.”

“I do not consider myself Prime Minister. Rather, I consider myself as ‘pradhan sevak’ and a member of the family of 130-crore Indians and my life is for them,” the Prime Minister told the rally.

Modi interacted virtually with beneficiar­ies of various

Central schemes and released Rs 21,000 crore as the 11th instalment of the Kisan Samman Nidhi.

The Prime Minister also interacted with the beneficiar­ies of the Central schemes from across India.

During one such interactio­n, Modi told Santoshi, a woman from Karnatka’s Kalaburagi, that he was impressed by the way she expressed her views and had she been a BJP worker he would have asked her to contest polls.

An ex-serviceman from Ladakh told Modi that he has benefitted from the Jal Jeevan Mission and PM Aawas Yojana.

 ?? — PTI ?? Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd during a public rally in Shimla on Tuesday. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union minister Anurag Thakur are also seen.
— PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the crowd during a public rally in Shimla on Tuesday. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union minister Anurag Thakur are also seen.

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