Here is the full excerpt from his speech:
Thank you all for the opportunity to sign up as we celebrate India’s 75th Republic Day.
Your presence here is a testament to the bonds of friendship, partnership and cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
On this day, in 1950, the Constitution of India came into effect and India became a Republic. Today we celebrate the establishment of a modern Indian democracy, which is unprecedented in its size, scale and vibrancy.
It is unparalleled in size and scale because it enfranchises 950 million adult Indians.
It’s dynamic, it shows that democracy is effective.
And this is unprecedented: it empowers 1. 4 billion Indians.
Our economic adventure, particularly over the last decade, has also been remarkable. India is now the fastest-growing primary economy in the world. We are now the fifth-largest economy in the world and are on track to be the third in the 2027-2028 period. The fact that ten years ago we were in tenth place shows how fast this adventure can be!
In fact, India is now at an inflection point. Our Prime Minister’s vision is to make India an evolved country – a Viksit Bharat or an evolved India – by the year 2047. We believe that it is through the Sabka Prayas or the efforts of all that “Viksit Bharat” will materialize. We realize that development, like democracy, is a matter of others, for others and through others.
One of the many major transformations taking place in India is the implementation of the Unique Virtual Identity Number or Aadhar. This has ensured smart governance and empowered the handicapped and dispossessed in a way never seen before. To give you an example, Aadhar has enabled the government to provide food rations to 850 million people, offer flexible health insurance to 500 million people, and make money transfers to 450 million Indians. There are many examples of social systems of this kind that manage to reach the most deficient and the most dispossessed without leakage and with total transparency. India is the only lower-middle-income country in the world that offers social benefits of such magnitude and impact.
Beyond that, the unique virtual identification number, along with UPI, also ushered in a boom in virtual monetary transactions in India. Today, 46 out of every hundred such international transactions take place in India. Public digital infrastructure has also led to a spectacular expansion of startups in India, with over a hundred thousand companies registered in the last decade alone. And among them there are more than a hundred unicorns or new companies valued at more than a billion dollars.
The speed and scale of change is also noteworthy. In the last 18 months, we have installed 400,000 5G sites. Every day in the last five years, we have opened two new colleges in India. Our physical infrastructure is acquiring world class standards. Our technological capabilities were best demonstrated when we landed the Chandrayaan-3 on South Pole of the moon – first by any country. Our journey on renewable energy has also been remarkable. We are on target to achieve 68.4% of our energy or 650 GW from non-fossil sources by 2032. We are also building a formidable green hydrogen capacity. Not surprisingly, we are the only G20 country that is on track to implement and even exceed its Paris Climate commitments.
Our developing domestic functions are also reflected in our foreign policy. Our G20 presidency reached consensus on a not unusual outcome, secured membership of the African Union and championed the cause of the South.
Our domestic vision is also driving our Neighbourhood First policy. Our SAGAR policy which seeks security and growth for all in the Indian Ocean region is at the heart of our approach towards Sri Lanka.
The marriage between India and Sri Lanka has been built on bonds of civilization, geographical proximity, cultural ties, a strong sense of solidarity and centuries-old goodwill. In recent years, whether due to the COVID-19 pandemic or the economic crisis, India has reaffirmed itself as a trustworthy spouse of Sri Lanka.
The Vision document followed by our leaders in July 2023 aims to build a stronger economic partnership with connectivity as the central theme.
Since July 2023, we have started daily flights between Jaffna and Chennai, and launched ferry services between India and Sri Lanka. We are working on building mechanisms to establish the India-Sri Lanka Connectivity Corridor.
We are also advancing multiple energy initiatives. These include the power grid connectivity eventually to enable Sri Lanka to export power to India; the multi-product pipeline, which will boost our shared interest in developing Trincomalee as an economic hub; and we are also working to set up a virtual LNG pipeline from Kochi to Colombo to bring down electricity costs in Sri Lanka. There are other clean energy projects in the private sector as well as the one by the NTPC in Sampur.
India is also Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner. In 2022, the bilateral industry amounted to $6 billion. In recent years, we have also been the largest foreign investor in Sri Lanka. India remains the largest source of foreign tourists to Sri Lanka. We hope that our economic partnership and the strengthening of Sri Lanka’s export prospects will be realized through the early conclusion of the Economic Agreement. and the Technology Cooperation Agreement, just as the FTA has opened up new export opportunities for Sri Lanka to India, now amounting to more than $1 billion.
To date, we have contributed more than $5 billion to our Progress Partnership, which has reached every single district in Sri Lanka. We work on solar electrification projects of religious sites across Sri Lanka, help modernize Sri Lanka’s railways, build houses for the poor, Sri Lanka’s fitness and education infrastructure, and have interaction in the development of ports and airports. We are executing the Single Digital Identity task in Sri Lanka and are looking to implement UPI in Sri Lanka soon. In all of this, India’s priorities are determined through the wishes and aspirations of Sri Lanka and especially its citizens.
India and Sri Lanka are natural partners: we are, if I may say so, irreplaceable, indispensable and inseparable partners. Our interests of security and progress are strongly linked. The enormous prospects that our partnership and the tangible impact it can have on the lives of ordinary people compels me to work harder to deepen and strengthen it. I look forward to your help and cooperation in this regard.
Let a Viksit Bharat drive a Sri Lankan Viksit.
The end
Jai Hind. Stutti. Nandri. Dhanyavad.
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