Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India is facing a big challenge due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the resilience and aspirations of the 1.3 billion people have ensured that the country is holding its own. Delivering the keynote address at India-US Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), the Prime Minister emphasised that the current situation demands a fresh mindset. “A mindset where the approach to development is human-centric,” he added.
USISPF, a non-profit organisation, is organising a weeklong summit on the India-US relations.
Elaborating on India’s ongoing battle against Covid-19, PM Modi said that India was the first country to advocate use of mask and face-covering as a public health measure. “We were also among the earliest to create public awareness campaigns about social distancing. Starting from one testing lab in January, we now have close to 1,600 labs across the country. The outcome of these efforts has been that a country with 1.3 billion people and limited resources, has one of the lowest rates of deaths per million.”
PM Modi also elaborated on the challenges faced by India in these Covid times. “In the last few months, India has not only battled the pandemic, but also natural calamities like floods, two cyclones, locust attack. But, it has only made our people’s resolve stronger. Covid-19 has affected everything but it has not affected India’s aspirations,” the PM emphasised.
Sharing his vision for the future, PM Modi said the future should be one where there is a spirit of cooperation between everyone. “While looking at the way ahead, we should keep our focus on ramping up our capacities, securing the poor, future-proofing our citizens. This is the path India is taking.”
He said in January, no one had imagined that the world would be facing a pandemic of this scale. “Covid-19 pandemic is testing our resilience, our health and economic systems,” he said, adding that this approach is in line with India’s spirit of challenging the challenge and emerge stronger.
He said that the government is providing free foodgrain to nearly 800 million people, a figure that he said would be approximately double of the US population.
The PM also spoke about the “far-reaching” economic reforms introduced by his government in recent months to put an end to redtapism. “Work is actively underway on the world’s largest housing programme. The renewable energy infrastructure is being expanded. Rail, road and air connectivity is being boosted. All these initiatives are being undertaken using world-class technology and global best practices,” he said.
PM Modi said one of the many lessons that the pandemic has taught the world is that companies are now looking for reliability and trust. “India is the location which has all of these qualities and is now becoming a leading attraction for investment. The world believes in us.”