What a day it was? Modi and India showed the world its strength in Houston. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump shared the stage in Texas India Forum equaling the voice for their fight against Islamic terrorism. In the presence of a massive crowd of Indian Americans, Modi and Trump demonstrated the friendly ties between both the nations. Both the powerful leaders had some important things to share amongst the massive crowd present in Huston. Here are the 10 takeaway things from Texas host Howdy Modi event.
Liberal and Democratic Society
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the value of diverse culture, languages, tradition and religious believes in the country. He said this diversity of India binds the democracy and liberal society together.
India in 5 years
Modi talked about how India progressed within these 5 years. He pointed out 4 such areas that have shown India’s progress as a developing country.
- Rural sanitation is up from 38% to 99%.
- Rural road connectivity is now at 99%.
- Percentage of households having cooking gas connection has risen from 55% to 95%.
- Almost 100% of households can now avail of banking facilities.
Connecting India with Internet
The Prime Minister pointed out India’s mission to digitalize the country. He talked about how the government provided the cheapest internet facility to its people. He stressed that at a cost of 25-30 cent, one can avail one gigabyte of data in India.
The path of development
Modi told that it was time for we all Indians to bid a farewell to the old hindrance in the country’s path of development. He pointed out challenges:
- Open defecation: He claimed that India will be completely free of open defecation by October 2, 2019.
The web in the taxation system: “with the implementation of GST, the dream of one nation one tax has now been achieved”. - Corruption: He also stated that India is making its best attempts at saying farewell to corruption.
Shell companies: “India has said farewell to more than 3.5 lakh shell companies in the past 2-3 years”. - Fake names: Modi stated that his administrations have saved around Rs. 1.5 lakh crore by removing 8 crore non-existent names from the system, who were reaping government benefits.
- Article 370: He also stated that Article 370 had kept development away from the people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh and that they will now enjoy similar constitutional rights as done by the rest of India.
Scrappin Article 370
Pm said the lawmakers in the Indian Parliament deserved a standing ovation for abrogating Article 370. “Article 370 had deprived people of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh of development. Terrorist and separatist elements were misusing the situation. Now after abrogation, people there have got equal rights,” he said.
Despicable Pakistan
Without mentioning the name of Pakistan, Modi had criticized the neighbors for harboring terrorism in its region. He mentioned pointing at Pakistan that “some people who have centered their politics around hatred for India” are having trouble with India’s achievements. He also stated that “this country” supports and nurtures terrorism, and that the conspirators of both 9/11 (in New York) and 26/11 attacks (in Mumbai) were found in this country.
Islamic Terrorism
Blaming Pakistan for feeding terrorism, Modi said he and Trump have pledged together to eliminate terrorism in its respective country. There was a time when Donald Trump mentioned Islamic Terrorism to be the biggest threat of the world and it needed to eliminate. After this statement, Modi gave a standing ovation to the American President.
India as a 5 trillion economy
Modi mentioned his government’s role to push India to the 5 Trillion economies. And he also mentioned the country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s role.
- Despite uncertainties in the global market, India has kept growing at an average rate of 7.5% for the past 5 years, which he claimed was the highest ever in Indian history.
- For the first time, India is now at a state of low inflation, low fiscal deficit, and high growth.
- India is one of the best FDI destinations right now.
- FDI flow into the Indian economy has doubled between 2014-2019. He also stressed that FDI in the coal mining sector has now been increased to 100%.
A corporate tax cut off
Modi in his speech, Modi also mentioned the recent cut in corporate taxes, that was declared days before the event.
He said that this bold move was not just satisfying for big businesses in India, but has also sent a positive message to global business leaders, thus bringing India at the forefront of the global competition.
NRI
He also spoke about the Indian community welfare fund started by his government, and also stated that his administration will provide better assistance for Indians living abroad and those who are planning to leave for another country.
