India at 75- Centre to unveil ‘PM Gati Shakti Master Plan’, a 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan
“In this decade, the power of speed will form the basis of India’s transformation,” PM Narendra said, from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort in the capital city at India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations.
With India entering its 75th year of independence, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the government will unveil a Rs100 crore infrastructure programme, called “Gati Shakti”, which will help boost productivity of industries and boost the economy.
In the 90 minute speech, PM Narendra Modi said that the government has launched this plan for a holistic and integrated approach in infrastructure construction, in order to bring employment opportunities for the youth.
“Gati Shakti will lay the foundation of holistic infrastructure and will lead to an integrated and holistic pathway to our economy. Right now, there is no coordination among our means of transport. Gati Shakti will break the silos, and will remove all these obstacles,” the PM expressed.
The plan will provide a blueprint for the future of India, and will help local manufacturers compete globally while creating new avenues of future economic growth. The national masterplan for providing multimodal connectivity across various industrial hubs to bolster economic zones.
Modi expressed that India has no coordination among the means of transport, currently and that an integrated approach to develop modern railways, roadways, waterways and airways, was the need of the hour for the country.
“This will reduce the travel time for the common man and the productivity of our industry will also increase. In this decade, the power of speed will form the basis of India’s transformation,” he added.
The PM stressed on the fact that along with modern infrastructure, India needs to adopt a holistic approach in infrastructure construction, “We will have to work together for manufacturing world class products, using cutting-edge innovation and new age technology,” he added.
In December 2019, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a similar programmed worth ₹111 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) with 7,400 projects, out of which 217 projects worth ₹1.10 lakh crore have been completed already.
While the Modi government has focused on boosting the economy ever since it came to power, it has struggled to meet its aims. Nevertheless, in terms of infrastructure and foreign investments, the current government surely deserves points, but it is certainly still far from what India needs to spur up our economic growth.
Boosting infrastructure in Asia’s third largest economy is still at the heart of the Modi’s plan to pull back the country from a sharp economic decline worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the last fiscal year, India’s economic output fell by a record 7.3% and a second wave of COVID-19 has delayed economic recovery, however, the government remains positive about India’s growth. Even though economic reports promise a healthy economic growth for India in the coming years, remaining positive just won’t do the trick.
