India will move to third spot in world economy from current fifth position in near future: Sitharaman

18 Mar 2024 Evaluate

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India currently needs economic freedom to achieve developed nation status by 2047 and assured that the country would move to the third spot in world economy from the current fifth position in the near future. Criticising those who compared India with China, Sitharaman said that certain things could not be replicated from them. She said ‘India should attain self-sufficiency on economic matters. It should become an economic power. The country has come from 10th position to 5th in global rankings and a few years down the line we will achieve the third spot’.

Sitharaman said digital technology in India does not refer to the payment mechanism, but it was also about the revolution during the COVID-19 pandemic when digital certificates on vaccination status were issued through mobile phones. She said ‘We have been using digital in every section, not only for making payments, but also in education and healthcare. Like this many developmental programmes have been launched in India in the last 10 years’. She added women in rural areas were tapping digital technology by operating drones for development of their farm lands. 

Referring to people talking about how China has progressed and comparisons with India, she recalled that the two countries were at the same level 30 years ago. She said ‘They have progressed because of various reasons which cannot be followed here. For example, (in China) there is no democracy at all. But we have civil liberty, freedom of speech is here and we have values in our system. And to become a developed nation, we should think positively’. Observing that India was a rich country about 400 years ago, she said that even today there are references to Indian connections in Indonesia and other East Asian countries.

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