India should double, its global exports share, Modi

Vartha Bharati | 22-06-2018 | 18:30:00 IST

New Delhi, June 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for India to more than double its share in global exports from the current 1.6 per cent to 3.4 per cent.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone of Vanijya Bhawan, a new office complex for the Department of Commerce, here, he said the Department must resolve to raise India's share in total global exports to at least 3.4 per cent and the states must be made active partners in the effort, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. 

Besides, efforts must be made to raise domestic manufacturing output to reduce imports, said Modi, citing the example of electronics manufacturing. He also said that the Union government has taken a number of steps to boost domestic manufacturing.

Listing various macro-economic parameters and other indicators to explain how India is playing an important role in the global economy, Modi said the country is now among the top five fin-tech countries globally.

He said the government has made great progress in making the country investment-friendly. Subjects such as "Ease of Trading" and "Ease of Doing Business" are all related to "Ease of Living" in an interconnected world, he said.

Noting that the building will be completed before December 2019, he hoped the new office, which will be a completely networked and paperless and equipped with smart access control, will further facilitate elimination of silos in India's commerce sector. 

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted: "Happy that PM Narendra Modiji has laid the foundation stone to Vanijya Bhawan. Once completed, the building will be a modern, eco-friendly structure with its entire roof used for solar power generation, zero waste discharge, offering universal accessibility." 

The Bhawan will comprise the Minister's room, 85 cabins for senior officers, 19 meeting rooms with seating capacities ranging from 10 to 100, library and more than 1,000 workstations.

Modi also said the land on which the building is being constructed was earlier occupied by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal. This is replaced by the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), which has seen transactions worth Rs 8,700 crore in a short time. 

He urged the Department of Commerce to work towards further expansion of GeM and leverage it for the benefit of the country's MSME sector.

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Time has come to implement Women's Reservation Act: PM Modi's letter to LS, RS floor leaders

12-04-2026 ¦ 12-04-2026 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PTI)

New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the time has come for the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act in its true spirit and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with the quota for women in place.

In a letter to the floor leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, ahead of the three-day special sittings of Parliament, Modi also asked all members to come together in one voice to pass the amendments to the women's reservation law, officially known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

"After extensive deliberations, we have reached the conclusion that the time has now come to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in its true spirit across the country.

"It is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with women's reservation in place," the Prime Minister said in his letter dated April 11.

The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened on April 16 to 18.

The Women's Reservation Act will ensure an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, of which 273 will be reserved for women.

The provision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution in 2023.

However, the women's quota would have come into effect only after the completion of the delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2027 Census. This meant the reservation would not have become enforceable before 2034 if the present law remains as is.

To implement it from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, changes were needed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; hence, the government is holding a special session to pass the amendments to the law.