Prez lauds Centre’s schemes, fight against Covid pandemic
NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday listed the government’s achievements amid the Covid-19 crisis, especially steps to fight the pandemic and to aid farmers and women, and called for more hard work to build a modern India by the centenary of independence in 2047.
In his address to a joint session of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at the start of Parliament’s budget session, Kovind began by paying tribute to the nation’s freedom fighters on the 75th anniversary of India’s independence and said the government is laying the foundation for the next 25 years with the mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Aur Sabka Prayas” to make the country more self-reliant.
“Today, the country’s achievements and successes are as limitless as the country’s potential and possibilities. These achievements are not of one institution or establishment, these are the collective achievements of more than a billion citizens of our country. These are the fruits of the labour and sweat of billionplus people,” he said.
“These achievements are milestones in the long journey to achieve our ambitious goals, and are our motivations to move forward. In 2047, country will celebrate its centenary of independence. We have to work hard for building a grand, modern and developed India of that era...We all have a stake, and an equal stake in this journey,” he said.
The president’s speech at the start of the budget session usually highlights the government’s achievements over the past year and outlines targets and plans for the future.
Noting that this is the third successive year that India and the world have been affected by Covid-19, Kovind lauded the Central and state governments, frontline workers, nurses, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs for working as a team to help the country cope with the pandemic.
The government’s commitment to fight the Coronavirus is reflected in the country’s massive vaccination programme,
where over 1.5 billion doses of vaccines had been administered in less than a year, he said.
India is now among the countries with the most vaccine doses administered and this has increased morale and protection among citizens. Some 90% of adult citizens had been given one dose of vaccine, and 75% of those eligible had received both doses. Teenagers aged 15-18 years have been included in the vaccination programme and frontline workers and senior citizens with co-morbidities are being given a “precautionary” dose, the president said.
Eight Covid-19 vaccines had been authorised for emergency
use by the government, and three “made in India” jabs had been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), helping India to play a role around the world in overcoming the pandemic, Kovind said.
While government has taken on the immediate challenges in the fight against Covid, it is also developing solutions for future, such as the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission with an outlay of ₹64,000 crore that will prepare India for future crises.
More than 80,000 health and wellness centres and hundreds of thousands of Ayushman Bharat cards have helped the medical treatment of the poor, and affordable medicines are being supplied through more than 8,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras. Products of Indian pharmaceutical firms are reaching more than 180 countries and the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for this sector will expand opportunities and boost research, Kovind said.
While several countries witnessed a scarcity of food grains during the during the worst pandemic in 100 years, the Indian government provided free rations to poor households every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the world’s largest food distribution programme with an outlay of Rs 2,60,000 crore, reaching 800 million beneficiaries for 19 months. This scheme has now been extended till March 2022.
The government also operates the PM-Sva-Nidhi scheme for protecting the livelihood of the poor amid the pandemic and has provided more than Rs 2,900 crore to 2.8 million street vendors under this programme.
Kovind noted that farmers produced more than 300 million tonnes of food grains and 330 million tonnes of horticulture produce during 2020-21, despite the pandemic, and said the government is working to “empower the farmers and the rural economy”. The government made “record procurement to match the record production”, and procured 4,330,000 metric tonnes of wheat during the Rabi season, benefiting about five million farmers.