Making India USD 5 trillion economy should be dream of every citizen: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said it should be the dream of every citizen to make India a US dollar 5 trillion economy in the next five years.

Addressing the nation on Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, he said it is possible to realise the goal if all citizens make their contribution.

He said some find the goal difficult to achieve but a target should always be challenging.

It took nearly 70 years for India to become a US dollar 2 billion economy and it became a US dollar 3 trillion economy in the past five years, Modi noted.

"We can be a US dollar 5 trillion economy. This should be the dream of every Indian," he stressed.

Modi said the expansion in the size of the economy will create opportunities and boost incomes.

The Prime Minister said like other citizens he is a "child of the motherland" and the work to create New India has to be done together.

Referring to tourism, he said people should consider visiting at least 15 destinations across India by 2022.

Underlining that 2019 is special as it marks the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, 70 years of adoption of the Constitution and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he said the 75th anniversary of Independence in 2022 is also a big inspiration for achieving results.

Modi said, "Politics had largely been marked by giving largesse or benefits and seeing who got what but the demand of the time is to move ahead with the dreams."

"We know our goals are high as the Himalayas, our dreams are more than innumerable stars in the sky, our capacity is as large as the Indian Ocean, our effort is pure and continuous as water of river Ganga, and the biggest thing our values have inspiration of thousands of years of culture," he said.

Modi talked of the need for freeing the country from single-use plastics and reducing the use of chemicals and fertilisers to prevent soil degradation.

He also mentioned the government's targets of providing housing for all, doubling the income of farmers, providing piped drinking water to every family, connecting villages with optical fibre and improving rural road connectivity.