Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said every sector of the economy would see an explosion of jobs, as India becomes one of the top three economies of the world in the next few years, after reaching the fifth place in the past nine years.

He was addressing a National Rozgar Mela via video conferencing and distributed more than 70,000 appointment letters to newly inducted recruits in various Government departments and organizations.

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Modi said in recent years, India had earned confidence and respect of the world, and was drawing international interest. India must take advantage of this situation for its sustained progress. Becoming one of the top three economies would be an extraordinary achievement for the country, he said.

The prime minister said a sizable number of the recruits getting appointment letters at Rozgar Mela would be joining the banking sector. Today, India’s banking sector was considered one of the strongest in the world, but it was not so nine years ago, he said.

Before 2014, when his Government took over, the country was witnessing use of office for selfish interest, and there was virtually ruining of the banking sector, he said. Unlike today’s digital banking, there was a different type of “phone-banking” operating then.

Some powerful leaders close to a “particular family” used to phone banks and get their favourite persons loans running into thousands of crores of Rupees, the Prime Minister said. These loans were never paid back, he said. The favoured people would get one loan, and then another to pay that off, and again a fresh loan.

“This banking scam was one of the largest scams of the previous Government. This scam broke the back of the country’s banking system,” Mr Modi said.

After taking over office, his Government started putting things in order, and professionalism was encouraged in the banking sector, the Prime Minister said. Small banks were merged and made into big entities. To sustain faith of the common man in the banking system, the Government brought steps to insure bank deposits up to Rs 5 lakh, he said.

The Prime Minister said that by insuring deposits up to Rs 5 lakhs, more than 99 per cent of deposits became safe. By acts like the Bankruptcy Code, banks were protected from losses. By tightening the grip over those who looted government wealth by attaching their property, the banks sinking in losses and NPAs, revived and are today noted for their record profits, he said.

“People of the banking sector never disappointed me or my vision,” he said. The Prime Minister hailed the efforts of the banking sector in making the Jan Dhan Account scheme a huge success by opening 50 crore Jan Dhan Accounts. This was a great help in transferring money into the accounts of crores of women during the pandemic, he said.

He said the MSME sector was given help through the Mudra Yojana which provided collateral-free loans to the enterprising youth. He praised the banking sector for making the scheme a success. Similarly, the banking sector rose up to the occasion when the government doubled the loan amount for women Self Help Groups and helped the MSMEs sector by providing loans which saved 1.5 crores jobs by protecting small enterprises.

He also thanked the bank employees for making PM Kisan Samman Nidhi a grand success. More than 50 lakh Street Vendors were helped in the SVANidhi Scheme. “I am sure, you will take a ‘Sankalp Patra (resolution letter) for making banking a tool of empowerment of the poor along with your ‘Niyukti Patra’ (appointment letter).

The Prime Minister said when policies are framed with good intentions, they yield surprising results. A recent Niti report has found that more than 13 crore Indians were brought above the poverty line in the last five years. This was not achieved without the hard work of Government employees, he said.

Mentioning schemes for pucca houses, toilets and electricity connections, he said “When these schemes reached the poor, their morale also increased. This success is a symbol of the fact that if we all combine efforts to remove poverty from India, poverty can be completely eliminated from India. And certainly, every government employee of the country has a big role in this,” the Prime Minister said.