NEW DELHI: Describing the Modi government’s tenure as “stable and decisive”, President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday said the Centre has taken firm steps to ensure national security and women empowerment, as well as adopted measures to root out corruption from the country. She was delivering her maiden address to the joint session of Parliament on the first day of the Budget session.
“Today, through this session, I express my gratitude to the people of the country for electing a stable government for two consecutive terms. My decisive government has always kept the country’s interest paramount and shown the will power to transform policies and strategies when required.” Amid loud thumping by members, Murmu lauded the government for the steps taken to ensure national security.
“From surgical strike to a firm crackdown on terrorism, from a befitting response to every misadventure from LoC to LAC, from the abrogation of Article 370 to triple talaq, my government has been recognised as a decisive government,” the President said.
The world is now looking at India for solutions and “every Indian’s confidence is at its peak,” she said.
Stressing that corruption is the biggest enemy of democracy and social justice, Murmu said the government has taken stringent measures to weed out corruption. “We have ensured that honesty will be honoured in the system. In the last few years, the Benami Property Act was notified to create a corruption-free ecosystem. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act was passed to confiscate the properties of criminals who absconded after committing economic offenses. A system has also been put in place to end the practice of favouritism and corruption in government machinery,” she said.
Elaborating on the efforts taken by the government towards empowering women, the President said that the female population has outnumbered males for the first time in the country. “We have seen the success of the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign. From education to their career, my government is trying to remove all obstacles for daughters.
My government has also ensured that women are not restricted from carrying out any work or participating in any field of work. For this purpose, recruitment in every sector from mining to forward posts in the army has been thrown open to women,” she said, adding that the government has increased the maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
The government has chosen the path of consolidating heritage and giving priority to development, she said. “While Ayodhya Dham is being constructed in the country, construction of a modern Parliament House is underway,” she said. “We have constructed Kedarnath Dham, Kashi Vishwanath Dham, and Mahakal Mahalok, and our government is also building medical colleges in every district,” she said.