Jaishankar in Indonesia: Indian govt in last 9 years reversed rules to make life easier for people

Urging the diaspora in Indonesia to take part in India’s growth story, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that the Indian government in the last nine years has made it easier to do business in India by reversing many of the rules and regulations that had made life difficult for people.

Addressing the Indian community in Jakarta on Wednesday (July 12), Jaishankar spoke about the changes happening in India and the emergence of a new India.

” I think, we are the country with a maximum number of rules and regulations on how to make life difficult for people. Hundreds of years have gone into this. Now the last nine years we have reversed the clock…I think my memory serves me right we went up about 63 places in the ease of doing business,” Jaishankar said.

Ease of living

Further, he also spoke about another concept that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is promoting which is the ease of living and how to make life more comfortable for the average Indian citizen.

Presenting a picture of India under the current government, he said 800 million people in the country are getting food, 450 million people are getting money in the bank, 150 million people have got houses, a roof over their heads, about 450 million people have got new water connections.

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“A larger number have got electricity connections. 100 million people have got firewood replaced by gasoline and today one-third of the country is actually covered by the health system and by the pension system,” he said.

“All these today are changing. But the other big change is actually the physical change that of the rate of infrastructure growth,” he said.

He gave several examples like fast passport services, the production of the COVID vaccine and digitisation that significantly improved the quality of life in India.

Deep connection between India and Indonesia

Jaishankar also spoke about the deep connections and commonalities between India and Indonesia. He said both nations struggled for freedom around the same time.

There are so many traditions, so many archaeological sites, and there are so many cultural practices that the two nations share.

“And when we looked abroad, it turned particularly towards the ASEAN and within the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Indonesia is the biggest country as the largest economy in a way the strongest cultural influence,” he said.

“In the last few years, Indonesia actually has emerged as the largest trade partner in ASEAN. Today, our trade is close to US$ 40 billion,” he said.

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Indian diaspora in Indonesia

The Indian community and the businesses in Indonesia are a very large part of the bilateral relationship, he said. He said fellow countrymen and women who go out in the world and have made their own lives shape the image of India.

“You are the official custodians of this relationship. You are the real owners of this relationship,” he said.

Talking about the connectivity between the two nations, he said, “I see today as a notable step is the fact that the initiatives now to establish direct connectivity between Indonesia and I can assure you that as a foreign minister, we will encourage other carriers to look at this market,” he said.

He said the challenge in the country today is how to get more and more Indians to be successful at home.

“You have today a government of India, a prime minister who is not thinking in terms of a year, a term or decade. He is thinking about…what he calls Amrit Kaal – the next 25 years.

“Those of you who live outside India, in different ways contribute to it through sources, in experience through your own sharing of different kinds. So, I want you to really understand the optimism in the country today,” he said and asked the Indian community to be part of the growth story.

“The feeling today that yes, there are challenges that we are capable today of meeting it,” he asserted.