Mumbai: It was the Modi government that addressed the issues related to security and dignity of the poor, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while stressing that the biggest achievement of the Modi government had been bringing the downtrodden to the mainstream of development. She said this while interacting with the media on Monday at a party event organised to showcase achievements of the Modi government on the occasion of its completion of 9 years in office.
FM lists schemes announced by government
The Union minister enumerated various schemes announced by the government for the weaker sections of the society. Serving the poor and marginalised, ensuring farmer welfare, impetus to women empowerment, ease of living for the middle class, affordable and accessible healthcare, thrust on defense and security, ease of doing business, making India a global powerhouse, environment and sustainability and the nation first policy have been some of the key performance areas of the Modi government, Sitharaman said. She said the list of welfare schemes under the Garib Kalyan Yojana was long, adding that all the promises made in the 2014 and 2019 poll manifestos had been fulfilled.
“The Centre implemented the world’s largest food security scheme by extending free food grains and pulses to 80 crore people for two years,” she said.Sitharaman said that reform in the medical sector had seen the poor availing of benefits of Rs5 lakh under the Ayush scheme. Generic medicines have brought down the expenditure on medication, she said.“The Centre’s thrust on infrastructure has helped all states including Maharashtra,” she said. “In the last seven decades, there were 74 airports. In nine years, 74 new airports were built. There were 111 inland waterways projects. The world’s largest tunnel, named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been built in Lahaul Spiti. The five-decade-old Kollam bypass in Kerala was completed.”
Sitharaman also said that the decision to recall the Rs2,000 note was taken by the RBI and criticised P Chidambaram saying that it did not behove a former finance minister to “cast aspersions or make quick judgement”.
