India working towards building inclusive country: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on late Tuesday night that India is going through a period of change and his government has worked towards building a developed and inclusive country in the last four years.

Addressing the Indian diaspora at the Stockholm University while winding up his two-day visit to Sweden, Modi said that earlier removing poverty was limited to just words and slogans, but his government is committed to poverty alleviation and is using empowerment as a tool to achieve its goal. Indian diaspora numbers over 20,000 in Sweden.

"The country is going through a period of change. At present, there is a government in India which is working day and night for the country's prestige, self-respect and is taking it to new heights in the 21st century," said Modi.


"In the last four years, the government has worked towards building a developed and inclusive India. It has worked for creating a New India by 2022," the PM asserted.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who was also present at the event, said Sweden highly values its partnership with India, and lauded the Indian diaspora for its contribution to the Nordic country.

Modi, alluding to the foreign policy initiatives, asserted that India's stature has increased at the world stage. "Be it Africa or small Pacific countries, or ASEAN or Europe or Asia, all of them are looking at India as a trusted friend."

He cited India's entry into the export control regimes of Wassenaar Arrangement, the Australia Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) as examples of India's increasing stature at the global stage.

Modi also said that in India, the government is using technology for accountability and transparency.

Digital infrastructure has changed how citizens used to interact with the government. Reaching out to the government has now become a practice rather than a privilege, he said, adding, the perception about the way the government functions is fast changing.

It is easier to do business in India and the country has jumped 42 ranks in the ease of doing business index, Modi said.

He also hailed the government's move of implementing the GST, saying the "historic" reform in the indirect tax regime is being increasingly adopted by the industrial sector.

The Jan Dhan Yojna, Aadhaar and mobile technology had merged to create direct benefit transfer facility. These were allowing welfare schemes to reach their intended targets and had saved $12 billion from ending up in wrong hands, Modi explained.

The PM also stressed on the government's focus on ease of living, and said 'Ayushman Bharat' -- the world's largest health care insurance scheme – is an example of it.