India’s populace now has the confidence to take the risks that will drive the country’s economy to new heights, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The people of all economies that have flourished in history have had a common trait – they were risk takers, said Modi at an event organised by Hindustan Times. India, too, was a hotspot for global commerce and culture because of this trait. The merchants and sailors at the time worked with South East Asia on one side and the Arab, African and Roman empires on the other. Those people, Modi said, took risks and as a result, India’s products and services reached across oceans.
“After Independence, we had to give more importance to risk taking culture. But the governments after Independence failed to give the populace the confidence to take risks. So many generations spent their lives taking one step forward and two steps back. In the past 10 years, the changes in the country have given the populace a risk-taking culture,” Modi said.
The emergence of start-ups over the past decade is evidence of the emergence of risk-taking culture. Where 10 years ago it was difficult to hear about a start-up, now there are over 1.25 lakh registered start-ups, he said. What’s more, where it was earlier considered too risky to attempt a career in sports, youth from India’s small towns and cities are now doing so, and making the nation proud in the process, the prime minister said.
“When the poor and middle class of a country are able to take risks, progress becomes more apparent. We are seeing this happening in the country today,” Modi said.
Employment Through Investment, Dignity Through Development
The government's policies are driven to provide two key combinations - employment through investment and dignity through development, PM Modi stressed.
As an example, he spoke about his government's mission to build toilets. The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014 with the goal of making India open defecation free. This was undertaken by building crores of toilets in villages across the country.
"When people talk about this mission, it is often said that so many toilets have been built... sure, they must have been built. So what?," Modi said. "But, for these toilets to be built, there has been a need for bricks, iron, cement and labour. And all of this has been purchased from a shop or produced by the industry and transported by a logistics company. This has resulted in economic growth and creating jobs in a big way."
By investing in building toilets, the government generated employment and economic growth. And building toilets also made peoples' lives easier and gave them dignity and self-respect. This achieved the second purpose of the government's policy - to provide dignity through development, Modi said.
Similar work has been done in many sectors, like providing liquefied petroleum gas connections to people and rolling out the Unified Payments Interface, he said.
"There is a thinking that this is India’s century. But to achieve this is going to require a significant amount of effort. We are working in that direction. The entire society will have to start thinking that nothing but the best will do," he said.
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