8 yrs better than past 60 yrs: Anurag Thakur on 8 yrs of Modi govt

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Talking about the performance of Narendra Modi government, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said eight years is better than the past 60 years.

Thakur said this after inaugurating DD News Conclave on '8 years of Government'.

The Minister said that the government has been able to sow seeds of development in the remotest corners of India and this is evident in the historically high number of people who have been brought above poverty line, an achievement in itself in the past eight years.

"The government has been able to achieve in the past 8 years what has not been done in the past many decades," Thakur said.

The minister highlighted the achievements of the government like construction of over 12 crore toilets and over three crore houses, piped water connection to 45 per cent homes in just the last three years, gas connection to over nine crore kitchens, electricity to all villages and homes.

This has brought 'Achhe Din' for the poor people of India and the government has set new standards in Good Governance. "Saath se behtar aath (8 years better than 60 years)," Thakur said.

He noted that the chasm between the rich and the poor has decreased.

He mentioned that 45 crore bank accounts were opened within two years, as a downstream effect of which, today India is making over four billion transactions a month on BHIM UPI, a feat being marvelled at by big tech companies all over the world.

"This has enabled India to achieve what no country could do - transfer Rs 21 thousand crore to accounts of 12 crore farmers at the press of a button by Prime Minister Modi. The JAM (Jandhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity has demolished the system of corruption by middlemen in benefit transfers schemes. This has saved over Rs 2 lakh crore of taxpayers' money," he said.

Speaking on inflation, the Minister said the world has seen many tragedies in the last two years and compounding the crisis has been the dramatic rise in prices of crude oil which has been worsened by disruptions in supply chain due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"It is in these trying times and to remove the dependencies on extra-national factors that the Modi government resolved to make India Aatmanirbhar. Today, despite the setbacks of the pandemic, India is the fastest growing economy in the world," the Minister said.

Rebuffing the allegations of under-reporting of Covid death figures, the Minister said that the death figures are reported by states and a registry is maintained for all deaths and death certificates are issued.

Speaking on the current image of India in the world, the Minister said that today, Indians can proudly say that the Government in the last eight years has been blemish free, the Indian passport is much more respected than before, the economy has strongly risen, and the response to crises like Covid-19 has been swift.

"The government has responded resolutely on issues concerning national security. This has included taking action against social media propaganda channels running from across the border," he added.