Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the 25th edition of the National Youth Festival in Puducherry via video conferencing.
Virtually inaugurating the 25th edition of the National Youth Festival, PM Modi lauded the "sense of responsibility" of the country's youth and said it manifested in the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in the 15-18 years age group that has covered over two crore children since its rollout this month.
PM Modi said that his government's recent decision to increase the legal marriage age of women to 21 years was for the betterment of "our daughters" and ensure that they had a career and also the time.
Hailing the pace of COVID-19 vaccination of the 15-18 years age group, he said this showed the "sense of responsibility" of the youngsters, especially witnessed during the pandemic period.
"The role of the youth in the success of our COVID-19 vaccination programme is being witnessed altogether at a different level. We are seeing that the youth in the 15-18 years age group are getting themselves vaccinated at a quick pace. In such a short time, over two crore children have been vaccinated. This exemplifies the sense of responsibility in today's youth and my confidence in a bright future of the country is further strengthened," he said.
PM Modi termed youths as a development drivers and said that India is the world's largest youth-driven economy that unlocks new hope, new opportunities and new possibilities for the nation towards development and prosperity.
PM Modi said, "The world has admitted that India has two limitless power -- demography and democracy. The youth of India carry democratic values along with demographic dividends. India considers its youths as development drivers."
"As a nation, we are the world's largest youth-driven economy that unlocks new hope, new opportunities and new possibilities for our nation towards development and prosperity," PM Modi said.
"Today, the world sees India with hope because India represents the youth with its dreams, actions and innovations," he added.
PM Modi also inaugurated a technology centre of the MSME ministry and Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Manimandapam, an auditorium with an open-air theatre, in Puducherry. After inaugurating the technology centre, PM Modi said that the role of the MSME sector is very important in creating 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'.
"Today in Puducherry, MSME technology centre is inaugurated. Role of MSME sector is very important in creating 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. It is very important our MSME use the technologies that are changing the world. The new MSME centre is an important step in that direction," he said.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
