English rendering of PM’s address at the launch of various developmental projects in Agartala, Tripura
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Present in the program are the Governor of Tripura Shri Satyadev Narayan Arya ji, popular Chief Minister Shri Manik Saha ji, my colleague in the Union Cabinet Pratima Bhoumik ji, Speaker of the Tripura Legislative Assembly Shri Ratan Chakraborty ji, Deputy Chief Minister Shri Jishnu Dev Varma ji, my friend and MP Shri Biplab Deb ji, all respected ministers of Tripura government and my dear people of Tripura!
Namaskar!
Khulumakha!
I am blessed to be on the land of Mata Tripura Sundari. I greet the holy land of Mata Tripura Sundari.
First of all, I bow down and apologize to all of you because I am almost two hours late. I was in Meghalaya where it took longer than the scheduled time. I am told that some people have been sitting here since 11-12 o'clock. I express my heartfelt gratitude to you for the problems you faced due to the delay and you stayed back to bless me. First of all, I congratulate the people of Tripura for their efforts to launch a huge campaign related to cleanliness. You have made cleanliness a mass movement in the last five years. As a result, Tripura has emerged as the cleanest state among small states in the country this time.
Friends,
With the blessings of Maa Tripura Sundari, the development journey of Tripura is getting new heights today. Many congratulations to all of you for the schemes related to connectivity, skill development and houses for the poor. Today Tripura got its first Dental College. It will help the youth of Tripura to become doctors right here. Today more than two lakh poor families of Tripura are getting new pucca houses. Most of these houses are owned by our mothers and sisters. And you all know that each house has cost lakhs of rupees. There are many sisters in whose name a property has been registered for the first time. Owners of houses worth lakhs of rupees, today I congratulate all my mothers and sisters of Tripura from the land of Agartala for becoming ‘lakhpati’.
Tripura is among the leading states in the country in building houses for the poor. Manik ji and his team are doing a commendable job. And we know that we get blessings for the entire life even if someone gives us shelter even for a night. Here, everyone has got a solid roof over his head. Therefore, all of us are getting abundant blessings from Tripura. And it took a while for me to come here from the airport as people in large numbers were lined up on both sides of the road to shower their blessings. The number of people on the road to bless us was probably ten times more than the people sitting here. I also greet them. As I said earlier, I attended the Golden Jubilee meeting of the North Eastern Council in Meghalaya. In this meeting, we discussed the roadmap for the development of the North East, including Tripura, for the next few years. I discussed eight points for the development of eight states of the North East in that meeting. Tripura has a double engine government. Therefore, we are ensuring that the roadmap of development picks up at a fast pace here.
Friends,
Before the formation of the double engine government, Tripura and the North East remained in news only for two reasons. One, when elections were held and the other time when there would be an incident of violence. Now times have changed. Today Tripura is being talked about for cleanliness, for the development of infrastructure. Lakhs of the poor are getting houses; it is being discussed. The central government is giving thousands of crores of rupees for the connectivity related infrastructure of Tripura and the government here is making it a reality by implementing it rapidly. You see how much the National Highway has expanded in Tripura in recent years. So many new villages have been connected by roads in the last five years. Now the work of connecting every village of Tripura with roads is going on at a fast pace. Tripura's road network is going to be further strengthened by the roads whose foundation stones have been laid today. Agartala Bypass will improve the traffic system in the capital and life will be much easier.
Friends,
Now the North East is becoming a gateway for international trade through Tripura. The Agartala-Akhaura rail link will open a new route for trade. Similarly, the North East is also becoming a gateway for relations with other countries through road infrastructure like the India-Thailand-Myanmar Highway. With the construction of an international terminal at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala, connectivity for the country and abroad has become easier. As a result, Tripura is developing as an important logistics hub for the North East. Today, the people, especially my youth, are getting the benefit of the hard work that we have done to bring the internet to Tripura. Optical fiber has reached many panchayats of Tripura after the formation of the double engine government.
Friends,
The double engine government led by the BJP is laying emphasis not only on physical and digital infrastructure, but also on social infrastructure. Today, the highest priority of the BJP government is that the treatment should be available closer to home, should be affordable and accessible to everyone. The Ayushman Bharat Yojana is becoming very useful in this regard. Under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, more than 7,000 health and wellness centers have been approved in the villages of the North East and about 1,000 centers are being set up in Tripura. Thousands of patients have been screened for many serious diseases like cancer and diabetes in these centres. Similarly, thousands of poor people of Tripura have got the facility of free treatment up to Rs. 5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
Friends,
Extensive work related to toilets, electricity or gas connections has been done for the first time. Now the gas grid has also been set up. The double engine government is moving fast to bring cheap piped gas to the homes of Tripura. The double engine government is also working at double speed to deliver piped water to every house. Four lakh new families of Tripura have been connected with piped water facilities in just three years. There used to be loot in the ration for the poor in Tripura before 2017. Today the double engine government is providing ration to every poor beneficiary and has also provided free ration for the last three years.
Friends,
The biggest beneficiaries of all such schemes are our mothers and sisters. More than one lakh pregnant mothers of Tripura have also got the benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. Under this scheme, thousands of rupees have been directly deposited in the bank account of every mother for nutritious food. Today more and more deliveries are taking place in hospitals, saving the lives of both mother and child. The way the government here is taking steps to make the sisters and daughters self-reliant in Tripura is also very praiseworthy. I have been told that the government has given a special package worth hundreds of crores of rupees for the employment of women. The number of women self help groups in Tripura has increased nine times since the formation of the double engine government.
Brothers and sisters,
For decades, Tripura has been ruled by parties whose ideology has lost importance and who practice politics of opportunism. They deprived Tripura of development. The resources that Tripura had were used for their own interests. Due to this, the poor, the youth, the farmers and my mothers and sisters suffered the most. This kind of ideology and mentality cannot benefit the public. They only know how to spread negativity. They do not have any positive agenda. This double engine government has the resolve as well as a positive blueprint for achievement. The pessimists drive in reverse gear when the accelerator is needed in Tripura.
Friends,
This politics of power has caused great harm to our tribal society. Tribal society and tribal areas were deprived of development. The BJP has changed this politics. This is the reason why today BJP is the first choice of the tribal society. Elections have just been held in Gujarat. Behind the massive victory of the BJP in Gujarat even after 27 years being in power has a huge contribution from the tribal society. The BJP won 24 of the 27 seats reserved for tribal communities.
Friends,
Atal (Bihari Vajpayee) ji's government made a separate ministry and created a separate budget for the tribal communities for the first time. Ever since you have given us the opportunity (to form a government) in Delhi, we have given priority to every issue related to the tribal community. The budget for the tribal community has been increased from 21,000 crore rupees to 88,000 crore rupees. Similarly, the scholarship of tribal students has also been more than doubled. It has also benefited the tribal society of Tripura. While there were less than 100 Eklavya Model Schools in tribal areas before 2014, today this number is nearing more than 500. More than 20 such schools have been approved for Tripura as well. Earlier governments used to give MSP only on 8-10 forest products. The BJP government is giving MSP on 90 forest produce. Today, there are more than 50,000 Van Dhan Kendras in tribal areas which have ensured employment to about 9 lakh tribals and most of them are our sisters. It is the BJP government which has facilitated the trade of bamboo to the tribal society.
Friends,
It is the BJP government which has realized the importance of ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ (Tribal Pride Day) for the first time. The BJP government started celebrating the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda on November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ across the country. The contribution of the tribal community in the country's independence is also being taken forward in the country and the world today. Today, 10 Tribal Freedom Fighter Museums are being set up across the country. Recently, the President Smt. Draupadi Murmu ji also laid the foundation stone of Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya Museum and Cultural Centre in Tripura. The Tripura government is also making constant efforts to promote tribal contribution and culture. The BJP government has also got the privilege of honouring the personalities who have taken forward the tribal art and culture of Tripura with Padma awards. It is due to many such initiatives that the tribal community in the entire country, including Tripura, has maximum faith in the BJP.
Brothers and sisters,
It is the endeavor of the double engine government that Tripura's small farmers and small entrepreneurs get the best opportunities. Efforts are being made to make the local products global. Today the pineapple of Tripura is reaching global markets. Hundreds of metric tonnes of other fruits and vegetables have also been exported from here to Bangladesh, Germany and Dubai. As a result, farmers are getting higher prices for their produce. Lakhs of farmers of Tripura have received more than Rs 500 crore so far from the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. The way the BJP government is strengthening the Agar wood industry in Tripura, meaningful results will be visible in the coming years. It will lead to the youth of Tripura getting new opportunities and a new means of earning.
Friends,
Importantly, Tripura is now on the path of peace and development. Now the double engine of development is showing results in Tripura. I have full faith in the capability of the people of Tripura. We will speed up the pace of development. With this belief, I once again congratulate and offer my best wishes to the people of Tripura for the schemes that have been either inaugurated or whose foundation stone has been laid today for the bright future of Tripura. Thank you very much with the expectation that Tripura will achieve new heights in the near future.
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of PM’s speech. Original speech was delivered in Hindi.
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DS/LP/VK/AK