 "Ram Nath Kovind")
Skipping any reference to Pakistan or China, President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on Monday listed many gains of the government, including the fight against Covid-19 and vaccination success, investment in infrastructure (infra), priority to the poor and marginalised sections of society, production-linked incentive schemes, and record goods and services tax (GST) collection, as the ‘collective achievements of a billion-plus people’.
Interestingly, the address harked back to the success of some schemes like Ujjwala and ‘pro-women’ moves like the outlawing of triple talaq launched several years ago, as if to remind voters in five poll-bound states that it was the Narendra Modi government that must be credited with all these achievements.
The address is a speech by the President, but compiled by the government. It is traditionally a list of all that the government may have achieved in the past one year and is delivered by the President on the first day of Parliament in the new year.
President Kovind congratulated front-line health workers and said because of their efforts, more than 90 per cent adult citizens of the country had received the first dose of the vaccine and more than 70 per cent administered both doses. He said other health delivery services, insurance schemes, and centres for subsidised drugs had helped low-income group families. Eight vaccines were approved for emergency use and three vaccines being manufactured in India have also got approval from the World Health Organization for emergency use.
“Several major countries have experienced scarcity of foodgrain and faced starvation during the Covid-19 crisis. But my sensitive government ensured that nobody remained hungry during the worst pandemic in 100 years. My government is providing free ration to each poor household every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. This is the world’s largest food distribution programme with an outlay of Rs 2.6 trillion, reaching out to 800 million beneficiaries for 19 months,” he said.
The speech had a special shout-out to all that had been done for farmers. He said there had been record production of foodgrain by farmers, and procurement matched it – 43.3 million tonnes (mt) of wheat during the rabi season, benefiting around 5 million farmers, and 90 mt of paddy during the kharif season, benefiting 13 million farmers. He said agriculture (agri) exports had touched new records as well. The Kisan Rail Seva was mentioned as a means of accessing more markets by farmers.
“During the pandemic period, the Indian Railways operated over 1,900 kisan rail on more than 150 routes to transport perishable food items like vegetables, fruit, and milk, thereby transporting around 600,000 tonnes of agri produce,” the President said, adding, “This is an example of how new avenues can be created from existing resources if the thinking is innovative”.
The speech made special mention of small farmers, who constitute 80 per cent of the farming community, and under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 1.8 trillion has been provided to more than 110 million farming families.
The President made a clarification about the new National Education Policy, which has been criticised by many Opposition-ruled states for ignoring local languages, asserting that important entrance examinations for undergraduate courses were being conducted in Indian languages as well.
“This year, 19 engineering colleges in 10 states will start teaching in six Indian languages,” he said.
He referred to the impressive strides in new start-ups and said “in 2021, more than 40 unicorn start-ups have emerged in India, each with a minimum market valuation of Rs 7,400 crore”.
He said the cost of internet connectivity and the price of smartphones in India today are among the cheapest in the world. He promised India would enable 5G connectivity ‘soon’. He referred to the high GST collections, inflow of $48 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year being testimony to the belief the global investor community has in India’s growth story, and high foreign exchange reserves of $630 billion.
“In April-December 2021, our goods exports stood at $300 billion (or more than Rs 22 trillion), which is one and a half times more than the corresponding period of 2020.Today, India has emerged as the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world,” he said.
He said infra development had taken place at a fast clip. In 2020-21, 36,500 kilometre (km) of roads have been built in rural areas, at the rate of more than 100 km per day, and thousands of habitations connected with all-weather roads.
“The government has also accorded approval for the construction of 21 greenfield airports in the country, among which is the country’s biggest airport coming up at Gautam Budh Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh (UP),” he said.
In a direct pitch for UP and Goa, the President said the idol of Annapurna, which was stolen from India 100 years ago, was brought back and installed at the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The Fort Aguada jail complex has been renovated and inaugurated on the occasion of Goa’s 60th Liberation Day.
