Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur interacted with the Viksit Bharat Ambassadors and young achievers in Bengaluru yesterday. He called upon the citizens to join hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be part of Viksit Bharat Sankalpa Abhiyan to realise the dream of shaping India into a developed country by 2047. He pointed out that a country that faced policy paralysis, corruption, high inflation, high fiscal deficit and sluggish growth rate in 2014 is today on a high growth trajectory. He added, today 25 crore Indians have escaped multidimensional poverty, three crore direct and indirect jobs were created, 6.4 crore EPFO registrations were done, one crore ‘Lakhpati Didies’ were created among the Self Help Groups, 29 crore E-Shram cards were distributed, 10 crore gas connections given under Ujwala, 12 crore toilets constructed, 14 crore water pipeline connections were given under Jal Jeevan mission and four crore houses provided to the poor.

The Minster further added that the banks are doing well today declaring one lakh crore profits and 10 lakh crore rupees recovery of NPAs. He added, India is today the second largest mobile manufacturer. Speaking about the Economy, the Minister said that Inflation has been brought down from 10 percent to 4.8 percent, the growth rate increased from five percent to over eight percent, the deficit reduced to two percent, there is record FDI and forex reserves and the country performed exceedingly well in International sports winning a record number of medals. The Minister announced that two National Centres of Excellence will be opened exclusively to train Women athletes in the country.