New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday lauded the government’s performance in the last three years, specially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, the President said: “We are in the third year of the pandemic caused by coronavirus. In these years, the people have displayed profound faith in the democratic values, discipline and sense of responsibility.”
Hailing the government’s efforts during the pandemic, he said that the example of India’s capability in the fight against COVID-19 is evident in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme. India has surpassed the record of administering more than 150 crore vaccine doses in less than a year.
While more than 90 per cent adult citizens of the country have received the first dose of the vaccine, more than 70 per cent have been administered both the doses, President Kovind said. The government is also reaching out to the rest of the population through the “Har Ghar Dastak” campaign. Adolescents in the age group of 15 to 18 years have also been included in the vaccination programme from this month.
Highlighting the government’s efforts for the poor during the pandemic, President Kovind said that the government is providing free ration to every 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 and now this scheme has been extended till March 2022.
More than 20 million houses have been provided to the poor under the “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana” as a result of the efforts made in the last few years. Under the “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin,” 117,000 houses have been approved at a cost of about Rupees 1.5 trillion in the last three years.
Launched with the aim of “Har Ghar Jal”, the Jal Jeevan Mission has brought about a huge difference in the lives of the people and nearly six crore rural households have been provided tap water connections despite the constraints imposed by the pandemic, he said on empowering the poor and enhancing their dignity.
To empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country, despite the pandemic, the government made record procurement to match the record production. The farmers produced more than 300 million tonnes of foodgrains and 330 million tonnes of horticulture produce in 2020-21.
The government has endeavoured to open new avenues of prosperity for the farmers by launching “Kisan Rail Seva,” the President said. During the Corona period, Indian Railways operated over 1,900 Kisan Rails on more than 150 routes to transport perishable food items like vegetables, fruits and milk, thereby transporting about 600,000 metric tonnes of agricultural produce.
“A provision has also been made for the Gender Inclusion Fund in the National Education Policy to promote learning capability among our daughters. It is a matter of happiness that all the existing 33 Sainik Schools have started admitting girl students,” Kovind said, adding that the government has also approved the admission of women cadets in the National Defence Academy.
The first batch of women cadets will enter the NDA in June 2022. With the policy decisions and encouragement of my government, the number of women personnel in various police forces has more than doubled as compared to 2014.
Education policy
On implementation of a new National Education Policy across the country, Kovind said it was part of the government’ endeavour to give shape to the resolve and potential of “Atmanirbhar Bharat.” Local languages are also being promoted through the National Education Policy.
Emphasis is being laid on conducting important entrance examinations for undergraduate courses in Indian languages as well. This year, 19 engineering colleges in 10 states will start teaching in six Indian languages, he added.
“We saw the capability of India’s youth power in the Tokyo Olympics. Giving its best-ever performance, India won seven medals. In Tokyo Paralympics too, India won 19 medals and set a record.”
With a firm belief in global brotherhood, India extended a helping hand when people in neighbouring Afghanistan were in distress due to political instability and launched ‘Operation Devi Shakti’ to airlift the Indian citizens in Afghanistan and minorities there in danger, including Afghan Hindus, Sikhs and others.
Even in such situations, “our government respected the religious emotions of our Sikh community” and successfully brought back the two copies of holy Guru Granth Sahib. Now India has been supplying corona vaccines, life saving drugs and grains to Afghanistan on a humanitarian basis, the President stated.
