Pune, 29 February: Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Jal Shakti, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, met and interacted with students, startups, professionals, and other Viksit Bharat Ambassadors in Pune on Wednesday(28Feb 24). He addressed the gathering and shared his perspective on India’s growing position in the world.
Minister Chandrasekhar highlighted the significant transformation India has undergone in the past decade, dispelling the outdated narrative of a “poor country with a dysfunctional democracy”. He emphasized how there were significant strides made under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi’s leadership, he said, “Today, we are well on our way to being in the Top 3 Economies of the world in the next few years and becoming a Viksit Bharat by 2047.”
Minister Chandrasekhar shared that “In 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji left behind an economy that was galloping despite the blockade and trade embargoes after the nuclear tests. We were running a surplus economy. We had launched one of the biggest infrastructure programs and road-building endeavors ever seen in independent India’s history. Admittedly, the then finance minister, P Chidambaram, said that we had inherited an economy in very good shape with robust reserves and an absolutely high rate of growth.”
He further stated that, “Chidambaram left behind an economy that was a fragile 5 economy2047 – 16 quarters of runaway inflation, 18 quarters of declining growth, a financial sector shattered beyond bits, and an overall image of dysfunctional governance that caused investors to pause and relook at India. That was 2014, and that is what we refer to as the lost decade.”
The Minister while talking about the power of technology to transform the lives of the citizens shared that “The situation before was that people were having to queue up outside government offices with little passbooks, asking for their pensions. For those pensions, they would have to give kickbacks. Now, technology has been fully embraced by the Prime Minister to transform the narrative of governance and democracy and the same India, which people used to say cannot be a role model for prosperous Asian countries, is today both a beacon of democracy and a beacon of development in the world. We have demonstrated in the last ten years that the two are not contradictions or binaries. They can go hand-in-hand, as India has demonstrated.”
The Minister further emphasized the importance of Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, stating, “Today, the only guarantee you can trust is Modi Ki Guarantee!”
The Viksit Bharat Ambassador Program is the central volunteer program organised to interact and engage with stakeholders to discuss the path towards the “Viksit Bharat 2047” Vision set forth by PM Modi.
City-wise chapters are being established to mobilize professionals, entrepreneurs, startups, young Indians and students to align with the development agenda of India.