In her first address to the nation after becoming the President, Droupadi Murumu said major economic reforms are being accompanied by innovative welfare initiatives and the world has seen “a new India rising in recent years, more so after the outbreak of Covid-19”.
She said India has helped the world discover the true potential of democracy and the keyword for the country today is compassion for the downtrodden, needy and those on the margins.
The president said when India won independence, there were many international leaders and experts who were sceptical about the success of the democratic form of government in India due to poverty and illiteracy at that time.
“But we Indians proved the sceptics wrong. Democracy not only grew roots in this soil, it was enriched too,” she said as she asked citizens to pledge to give everything for the sake of the safety, security, progress and prosperity of the country.
The president, in her 17-minute address, also complimented the policymakers for ensuring the growth of the country that has become more inclusive with reduced regional disparities.
She said in combating the pandemic, India’s achievements have been better than those of many developed countries. “For this feat, we are grateful to our scientists, doctors, nurses, paramedics and the staff associated with vaccination,” she said.
The president said that the pandemic uprooted lives and also economies in the entire world. “When the world has been battling the economic consequences of the great crisis, India got its act together and is now moving forward. India is among the fastest growing major economies in the world” whose start-up ecosystem ranks high in the world.
The president said “our existence will become meaningful only in building a glorious India” and quoted a poem of poet Kuvempu ‘I will pass, So will you, But on our bones will arise the great tale of a new India’.
She said this is a clarion call of the nationalist poet for making a complete sacrifice for the motherland and the uplift of fellow citizens. “To follow these ideals is my special appeal to the youth of the country who are going to build the India of 2047,” she said.
