India progressed from aspiring to inspiring nation: Ex-President Kovind

Kolkata, Former President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said that India has moved from being an aspiring nation to an inspiring nation.

Addressing a programme here, he said that India's journey in the last two decades has been nothing but extraordinary.

"We have moved from being an aspiring nation to an inspiring nation," the former president said.

Noting that the world is taking notice of India not just as a market, but as a world leader, he said that this transformation did not happen by chance.

"It is a result of bold decision-making, strategic vision and unwavering commitment of both the government and the people of India," Kovind said.

He said that the most remarkable dimension of the India story has been that 25 crore people came out of poverty in the past one decade.

Kovind said that till the mid-1990s, almost half of the country was living under the poverty line.

Maintaining that India has undergone a digital transformation in the last one decade, he said that because of this, government services have been rendered more accessible and convenient for citizens.

The former president said that the trinity of Jandhan account, Aadhaar and mobile phone has ensured that government benefits reach the intended beneficiaries without "leakages, corruption or delay".

"With Aadhaar-linked authentication, middlemen and fake beneficiaries are eliminated and subsidies and welfare payments are now directly transferred to the bank accounts of beneficiaries," he said.

Stating that government procurement had earlier been plagued by corruption, he said that to put an end to this, the government e-marketplace portal was introduced.

"Now all government departments list their requirements on this transparent digital platform where vendors compete through an open bidding process. As a result, corruption has been significantly curbed," he said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.