NEW DELHI: Reiterating that his government had saved D36,000 crore annually by stopping leakage and theft in government schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he “faced problems” by depriving the “sweets of many”, during his two-day visit to Qatar. Modi signed a string of agreements, wooing top Qatari business leaders to India.
“We have only cleaned up the surface (on corruption), a detailed clean-up remains,” he said. “We have stopped the sweets of many and in doing so, I have also faced problems. But I get the strength to face these problems from the love received from 125 crore Indians.” He also claimed that 1.62 crore fake ration cards have been identified, which has helped the government save crores of rupees spent on subsidies. In a veiled attack on the earlier Congress regimes, Modi said: “Today across the world, India’s image has been enhanced and the country is being viewed respectably. Everyone is being attracted to India. You would have noticed the change when people from other countries meet Indians.”
Despite India facing drought for two consecutive years, it has achieved 7.9 per cent GDP in the last quarter of the previous fiscal, he said. “The world economy is in doldrums and the best of the countries are facing an economic downturn. (But) India is moving ahead at a fast pace despite a lot of difficulties,” he said, adding that all the credit rating agencies, World Bank and the IMF were unanimous in recognising India as the world’s fastest-growing economy.
“Despite the problems, the 7.9 per cent growth is testimony to the fact that the country is moving fast,” he said. Describing India as a “land of opportunity”, the Prime Minister invited Qatar’s business leaders to take advantage of it by investing in the country and promised to address “bottlenecks” identified by them. Referring to the One Rank One Pension scheme for retired defence personnel, the PM said, “The economic burden may have been big but this cannot be less than the prestige of soldiers dying for the country.”
Deal clinchers
Seven agreements signed with Qatar to boost bilateral ties
Modi will visit US today and address the Congress
PM will also visit Switzerland next to discuss NSG entry