Rejecting opposition criticism over the state of the economy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said as the world was grappling with financial crisis India alone was "progressing at a rapid pace" because of the policies of his government.
"Everyone is saying this... the World Bank, the IMF. The world is going through an economic crisis, but it is India alone that is progressing at a rapid pace. This is a unique situation when the whole world is slipping and India is growing," Modi said. "People across the world are saying that the steps taken by the government have led to India becoming the fastest growing economy among the larger economies of the world," he said.
He was speaking at an event to celebrate the birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Sarawati, the founder of the social reform movement Arya Samaj.
Modi's assertion came on a day when Congress said it would demand a white paper on the state of the economy in the Budget Session of Parliament beginning February 23.
Former Union Minister and Deputy leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said that Congress would demand a white paper on the economy in view of the "boastful claims" of the Prime Minister.
Listing out several "pro-people" schemes launched by his government, the Prime Minister referred to the Skill India initiative and Mudra Bank. "One thing can free us from our problems, from poverty, from lack of education and that is development," Modi said.
"Over two crore people have benefited from MUDRA Yojana and over Rs one lakh crore has been disbursed to them. Financial support has been given to people and we have faith in them," Modi said.
Speaking about the formation of Arya Samaj in 1875 by Dayanand Saraswati, Modi said it had its roots in India's First War of Independence.
"1857 saw the first War of Independence. After centuries of slavery, there was a new zeal and that too not a small one.
It did not restrict itself to 2000 to 5000 freedom fighters, but the entire country stood up.
"However, the desired results were not achieved. When you see that background, you will then realise why Arya Samaj was established then," the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said, "One thing can free us from our problems, from poverty, from lack of education and that is Vikas (development)".
Observing that many people have said that 21st century would be India's century, the PM said this century is the "era of knowledge" and India has always led the world in knowledge. He called upon the youth to take a pledge to enhance India's prestige in the world fora through their skills and knowledge.
"There is the public sector and the private sector. We want to introduce another sector - the personal sector. We want the people to be self-sufficient and self-employed to be become job creators and not job seekers," Modi said.
Maintaining that his government had introduced schemes to make the people especially the youth self-sufficient, he spoke of the Jan Dhan Yojana and said over Rs 30,000 crore was deposited in the accounts under the scheme.