Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 76th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.  “I represent a country that is proud to be known as the mother of democracy…our diversity is the identity of our strong democracy,” Prime Minister Modi said. 

Strength of Indian democracy

Referring to his humble roots and explaining the strength of Indian democracy PM Modi said, “A little boy who at one time used to help his father at the tea stall at a railway station is addressing the UNGA for the fourth time, this shows the strength of India’s democracy.”

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“Democracy can deliver. Democracy had delivered. Today is the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay who came up with the concept of ‘Ekatma Manav Darshan’,” PM Modi said adding that the philosophy shows the trajectory of moving from the individual to society. 

Development for all

Prime Minister Modi further said that development should nurture all and India’s development is taking place in an equitable manner. Listing his government’s various welfare initiatives, PM Modi said India has brought more than 30 million people into the banking system. Today, over 360 million people who earlier could not even imagine this was possible now have insurance coverage as security, he said. 

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Modi added that India has given people access to quality health services and has made many homeless families homeowners. 

Polluted water is a very big problem in particular for poor and developing countries, Prime Minister Modi said. “In order to address this challenge, we are carrying out a very big campaign so that clean water reaches homes,” the Indian Prime Minister said. 

Property rights

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that for the development of any country, people must have rights to their land. “Ownership records are a must. Today, we are using drones in India to map over 600,000 villages and in doing so we are giving people digital records of their homes.”

Science and technology

The science and technology based innovations taking place in India can make a big contribution to the world, the Indian prime minister said. “Over 3.5 billion transactions are taking place every month in India through UPI.  India’s vaccine delivery platform CoWIN offers digital support allows registration of vaccine doses every single day.”

Service is the highest religion 

Harping
on the Indian philosophy of service as the highest religion, PM Modi told the
UN General Assembly that India has developed the world’s first DNA vaccine and
that this vaccine can be administered to anyone above the age of 12. Another
vaccine, an mRNA vaccine is in the final stages of development. PM Modi further
mentioned that Indian scientists are working on development of a nasal vaccine.

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“India has resumed the process of
providing vaccines to those who need it in the world. Today, I also extend an
invitation to vaccine manufacturers: Come come make vaccines in India,” the
Indian prime minister said.

Scientific approach

Admonishing countries that are falling to
regressive thinking, the Indian prime minister said that it is important for
the world to adopt a science-based approach and to that end India has initiated
experiential learning.

Terrorism and Afghanistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that
countries with regressive thinking who are using terrorism as a political tool
must understand that terrorism is an equally big threat for them. Talking
directly of Afghanistan, the Indian prime minister said that no country should
take advantage of the situation in Afghanistan and the women and children of
Afghanistan need help.