Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lamented that previous governments lacked the political willpower to undertake reforms because of the continuous political instability in the last three decades.

The need for reforms was always felt in the country but there was always a lack of political willpower. Because of this, the country stayed away from reforms and from taking big decisions, he said while participating in the celebration of the completion of 20 years of ISB, Hyderabad.

Since 2014 when the NDA formed government at the centre, the country was seeing political will and also reforms were being undertaken continuously.

”Public support and popular support are assured when reforms are undertaken with determination and political will,” Modi said and gave the example of the adoption of digital payments by people.

He noted that today India was the fastest growing economy in the group of G20 countries. In the case of Smartphone Data consumers, India was number one. ”If we look at the number of Internet users, India is second in the world.”

Modi said India was also second in the world in the Global Retail Index. The world’s third-largest startup ecosystem was in India. The world’s third-largest consumer market was in India and the country was emerging as a major centre of growth. Last year, the highest ever recorded FDI came into India. Today the world was realising that ”India means business,” he added.

The PM pointed out that often Indian solutions were being implemented globally. ”Therefore, today on this important day, I would like to ask you to link your personal goals with the goals of the country”, he said.

Referring to the health sector, the PM said its resilience and strength were proved during the pandemic. Concerns were being raised in India about whether foreign vaccines would be available or not. But India developed its own vaccines. More than 190 crore doses have been administered. India has also sent vaccines to more than 100 countries. He also talked about the expansion of medical education.

The PM noted that bureaucracy has also made firm contributions to the reform process. He credited the people’s participation in the success of the government’s scheme. He said that when people cooperate, quick and better results were assured.

”In the system now, government reforms, bureaucracy performs and people’s participation leads to transformation,” he said.

The PM observed that after 2014 India was seeing a phenomenal performance in every sport due to the confidence of Indian athletes.

”Confidence comes when the right talent is discovered when there is handholding of talent, when there is a transparent selection and a better infrastructure is available for training, competition,” he added.