The prime minister also said he has a dream that by 2022, when India is 75, “no family should be homeless”. Modi hailed India’s scientific prowess — saying its IT engineers had transformed the country’s image from that of a nation of snake charmers to one that made the world dance through the power of the mouse.
The prime minister peppered his speech with witticisms while making various points. To get to Mars, a distance of 650 million km, India spent just Rs 7 a km, which meant the budget for placing a satellite successfully in orbit around the red planet was less than that of the average Hollywood movie.
Apart from his government’s skill development initiative, Modi also spoke about the importance of his financial inclusion programme — the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. By signing up 4 crore families in two weeks, it’s been proven that the government works, he said.
He said the ‘Make in India’ programme to boost manufacturing could even be accessed through a mobile phone app. Modi also said anyone could connect with him to make suggestions on MyGov.in.
While rivals were boasting about making new rules during the election campaign that brought him to power, Modi said he had embarked on a programme to get rid of outdated laws. He would be happy to scrap one such law a day, he said.
The queue to enter Madison Square Garden wound around the entire arena from 31st to 33rd street from the morning itself, with chants of “Modi, Modi” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” from the crowd, leaving New York Police Department officers bemused and saying they’d never seen anything like this before.
Those who couldn’t get into Madison Square Garden thronged Times Square, where the event, organised by the United States India Political Action Committee, was shown live.
The buildup to the speech included acclaimed violinist L Subramaniam and wife Kavita Krishnamurthy performing as an artist painted a portrait of Modi live on stage, starting upside down and then flipping it rightside up as he applied the finishing touches. The event was hosted by Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri and PBS Newshour Weekend anchor Hari Srinivasan.
Source: The Economic Times