Rajnath Singh said India has emerged as a global growth engine and is providing a new direction to the world. The minister emphasised that the growth story has showcased that there is no trade-off between economic growth and distributive justice.
«Our growth model shows that equal opportunities to everyone and the accelerated growth rate can be achieved simultaneously,» the minister said at Ficci's 96th annual general meeting and annual convention in New Delhi.
He added that the growth being achieved is sustainable and has not come at the cost of environmental degradation. «We have chosen the path of green growth.
We signed the Paris Agreement. We have formed the International Solar Alliance. We have taken initiatives to promote clean energy.
We have also reduced the emission intensity of GDP,» he said.
In his address, Singh said that a growth web has been created across the country by decentralisation. «We have connected remote parts of the North-East and small towns with metro cities through infrastructure development and, as a result, all the regions are developing together,» he said. The minister spoke about infrastructure development initiatives of the government.
«Till 2014, India had 91,000 km of national highways; today it has increased to about 1.5 lakh km. While India had only 74 airports in 2014, today it has increased two-fold,» he said.
Singh also emphasised on the significance of human resources in economic progress. Highlighting interventions made by the government to promote Indian economy, he termed «strengthening of the country's human resources» as the most impactful.