New Delhi(PTI): Citing India's commitment to deep economic reforms and ease of doing business, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that this is the best time to invest in the country as policy-making is focussed on the needs for the next 25 years for a 'clean and green' as well as 'sustainable and reliable' growth period.
In his special address to the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, Modi underlined a host of reform measures undertaken by his government to stress that it has worked to reduce the administration's interference in business by deregulating many sectors and to clear the way for free trade agreements with different countries.
India was once associated with "license raaj", he noted and highlighted the measures, including reduction of corporate tax to boost business and doing away with over 25,000 compliance requirements.
He also mentioned about new challenges, including crypto currencies, facing the world and said they call for different countries to respond together as measures by any one country may be inadequate.
Inflation, climate change and supply chain disruptions were the other challenges cited by the prime minister.
Wondering if various multilateral forums are prepared or have the strength to deal with new challenges in the emerging world order, Modi pushed for reforms in them and said this is every democratic country's responsibility so that these organisations are competent to deal with present and future needs.
The prime minister said India is committed to becoming a reliable partner in the global supply chain and highlighted its export to many countries of medicines and COVID vaccines as part of its "One Earth, One Health" vision that saved millions of lives.
India is today the world's third largest pharma producer and pharmacy to the world, he said.
Highlighting India's democratic credentials, Modi said the country has given the world the beautiful gift of "bouquet of hope" which includes technologies to empower the 21st century, Indians' unbreakable trust in democracy, their temperament and technology.
The fact is that India is a multilingual and multicultural country that has adapted to work for the welfare of entire humanity and just not for itself, he said.
India is sending record number of software engineers across the world while over 50 lakh software developers are working in the country, the prime minister said and noted that its IT sector worked round the clock during the coronavirus pandemic to help the world.
Highlighting the growth in the emerging business sectors in India, Modi said it has globally third largest number of unicorns with over 10,000 startups being registered in the last six months alone.
Entrepreneurship among Indian youngsters has soared to a new high, and Indians ability to adapt to new technologies and innovation can infuse new energy into the country's global partnership, he emphasised.
India has been fighting another COVID wave with full alertness and caution while maintaining economic growth, he said and asserted that the country is brimming with the self-confidence of administering over 160 crore doses of vaccines to its population.
Today India is making policies and taking decisions regarding the present as well as the goals for the next 25 years. In this period, India has set the goals of high growth, saturation of welfare and wellness, Modi emphasised.
"This period of growth will also be green, it will also be clean, it will also be sustainable, it will also be reliable," he said.
Further, he said that India is focused on reforms in the right direction and the global economic experts have praised India's decisions.
"We will fulfil all the expectations that the entire world has from us," he said.
Modi said lifestyle issues are also posing challenges to the climate and the situation has been got further complicated by a 'throw away culture' and consumerism and called for transforming today's 'take-make-use-dispose economy' into a circular economy.
The prime minister also called for making 'Mission LIFE' into a global mass movement and said it cane be done with P-3, which he described as 'Pro Planet People'.
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Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.