Bhubaneswar: The juggernaut of 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas rolled out Wednesday in the land of Lord Jagannath.
With the theme of the 18th PBD being “Diaspora’s Contribution to Vikshit Bharat”, the kick starting of the grand NRI confluence in Odisha signals that the ‘juggernaut’ of PM Modi’s Vikshit Bharat will remain unstoppable.
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Declaring why the Juggernaut is unstoppable, Minister of External Affairs S Jai Shankar said the New India has the confidence.
"While development itself is a very complex task, it becomes easier when we are confident that nothing is beyond us,” the Minster declared.
He then sheds light on where the confidence of India to become a developed nation comes from.
HOW CONFIDENT IS INDIA?
External Affairs Minister S Jai Shankar then elaborated on the Indian resilience and achievements that displayed the CONFIDENT strides the country is making to become a developed nation by 2047.
COVID-19: The minister stated that India’s resilience and potential was to the fore when the country and the world were under the grip of once- a-lifetime pandemic – Covid-19. Our young scientists led from the front to make a vaccine from a whole virus – a first in the world – in a record time.
And the country’s support medical staff then worked wonder to achieve the goals of vaccination.
The Minister added, “India became one of the largest exporters of Covid-19 vaccines in the world.”
FACT: As per data available with the Centre, India became the third largest exporter of Covid -19 vaccines in the world, after China and Russia. It has exported a whopping 30.1cr vaccine doses to the world till year 2023. Of which 77% were commercial exports, 17.3% to low income developing nations under programme COVAX, and another around 5% were given to nations as grant.
UP IN SPACE: In his inaugural speech at the 18th PBD, the MEA Jai Shankar also spoke about the confidence in the new India building a successful space programme, which showcased the country potential to wing up in accomplishing Vikshit Bharat by 2047.
The Minister listed out he country’s successful space endeavours such as Chandrayan 3, the first Indian Solar mission Aditya L1 and the upcoming Gaganyaan (when for first Indian spacecraft will carry humans to space) in 2026.
UPI STORY: In his speech, the external affairs minister highlighted the success of UPI revolution in India and the country emerging as a leader in the digital revolution, which showcases the country’s potential and confidence to accomplish the Developed India roadmap of 2047.
FACT: National Payments Corporation of India data shows in year 2024 Indians had 172 billion transactions, up 46% from 118 bn in 2023. The total value of transactions stood at Rs 247 trillion vis-à-vis 183 trillion in 2023.
RBI report shows in worldwide digital payments, India alone accounts for a massive 48.5% share in global real-time payments volume.
The Minister in his speech had also shed light on the confidence of new India by highlighting the Start Up revolution sweeping the country. He said, “New India with 90,000 plus start-ups and 100 plus unicorns, Atal Tinkering labs, and nano fertilisers is beaming with hope and ambition.”
MANTRA FOR VIKSHIT BHARAT
The Minister said, the mantra, therefore, for the country to achieve the Vikshit Bharat 2047 rests on the two pillars of – TECHNOLOGY And TRADITION.
This mantra will not only secure the country’s dreams but will also secure the country’s future generations, and India is investing big in youths, he added.
MODI-FIED NEW INDIA
Highlighting the new India’s changed nuances, the minister said, “I still recall some time ago an observation by a famous Indian badminton player PV Sindhu on why PM Modi is a youth icon. She summed it up as his attitude which moved the nation from 'chalta hai' to 'badal sakta hai' to 'hoga kaise nahi'. Indeed this is the very spirit which has driven our achievement in the recent years."
