World recognises 2 infinite powers of India — demography and democracy: PM

Exhorting the youth to work hard for the nation, he said the motto should be “citizens first”, and underlined that their careers would be the most important phase of ‘Amrit Kaal’ for the country. “The world acknowledges today that India possesses two infinite powers. One is demography, the other is democracy. In other words, the largest youth population and the largest democracy,” he said.

Asserting that the country has progressed in every field in the past 11 years, PM Modi said electronic manufacturing had risen over five times and mobile manufacturing units have increased to nearly 300 from two to four earlier.

Noting that over 25 crore people were lifted out of poverty in the past 10 years, the PM said it would not have happened but for the employment and sources of income generated for them.

Citing an International Labour Organization report, Modi said over 90 crore people were covered under the ambit of welfare schemes in the last decade. The worth of defence production has gone beyond `1.25 lakh crore, he said, adding that India is now on the way to becoming the third-largest economy. Defence manufacturing is being discussed proudly after Operation Sindoor, he said in an apparent reference to the display of India’s indigenous military capability during the conflict with Pakistan.

The government, he said, was focusing on creating new employment opportunities through the Employment Linked Incentive Scheme, under which people in their first job in the private sector would be given `15,000 by the government. He added that this is expected to help create about 3.5 crore new jobs.