From a few hundred to 90,000 Startups: Prez Murmu highlights India Growth Story

The country has been making a rapid rise up in the Global Innovation Index and even the Startup community which was only a few hundred a few years ago has now risen to become 90,000 strong, President Droupadi Murmu said as she highlighted the India growth story in her speech to the joint sitting of the Parliament.

Here are highlights of President Droupadi Murmu's speech as the Budget Session of the Parliament commences: 

Focus on Innovation: 

In her speech President Murmu said the government has constantly laid unprecedented emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship.  

“This is harnessing the strength of our country with the world’s youngest population. Today our youth are demonstrating the power of their innovation to the world. In 2015, India was ranked 81st in the Global Innovation Index. Now it has reached the 40th position. Seven years earlier, there were only a few hundred registered start-ups in India, today this number is almost 90,000,” she said.

The President also said that there is now a greater focus on infrastructure and completing projects on time. 

Over the past decades, we have noticed two major challenges in building infrastructure in India. Firstly, large infrastructure projects could not be completed on time. Secondly, different departments and governments worked according to their own convenience, said the President. 

“This not only resulted in the misuse of government resources and time overruns, but also caused inconvenience to the common man. My government has taken concrete steps to deal with these challenges by formulating the PM Gati-Shakti National Master Plan. States and Union Territories have also shown enthusiasm regarding the PM Gati-Shakti National Master Plan. This will also expand multi-modal connectivity in the country,” she added.

My government is striving to make India the most competitive logistics hub of the world.  For this, the National Logistics Policy was launched in the country last year. Implementation of this policy will result in reduction of logistics cost, she said. 

Global Ascent: 

In her speech, President Droupadi Murmu said that on the one hand,  the government was strengthening the spirit of Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat through Kashi-Tamil Sangamam and on the other, it was developing modern systems like One Nation, One Ration Card. India's strength in Digital India and 5G technology is being acknowledged by the world today.

She also spoke about India helming the G20 group of nations. 

“India has assumed the Presidency of an influential global group like G-20. With the mantra of One Earth, One Family, One Future, India is attempting to find collective solutions to the current global challenges in collaboration with the G-20 member countries. My government does not want to limit it to just one diplomatic programme. Rather, it is an opportunity to showcase India's potential and culture, through the efforts of the entire country. Therefore, G-20 meetings are being held in dozens of cities across the country throughout the year,” she said.

My government has constantly laid unprecedented emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship. Today our youth are demonstrating the power of their innovation to the world. pic.twitter.com/to0kDpme7r

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) January 31, 2023

Welfare of All

President Murmu elaborated how the government had worked to ensure that more and more sectors are opened up to the daughters of the country be it mining to defence. 

My government has ensured that women are not restricted from carrying out any work or participating in any field of work, said Murmu. We have seen the success of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign. For the first time in the country, female population now outnumbers that of males, she said. 

My government has started working on the Vibrant Village programme to provide better facilities to the border villages. From the point of view of national security too, unprecedented infrastructure has been developed in the border areas in the past few year, she said. 

“In the last few years, the government has provided pucca houses to more than three and half crore poor families. With the house comes a new self-confidence. This not only improves the present condition of the family, but also enhances the self-confidence of the child who grows up in that house. The government has tried to relieve the poor from their worries by providing basic facilities like toilet, electricity, water, cooking gas etc. As a result, people of the country have got confidence that government schemes and benefits actually reach the needy and 100 percent coverage or saturation is possible even in a vast country like India,” said President Murmu.