Budget session on: Prez Kovind highlights vaccination success, health infra boost
In his opening remarks marking the start of the Budget session of Parliament on Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind highlighted the achievements of the Modi government’s mega COVID-19 vaccination drive, and noted that 150 crore doses were administered to the country’s citizens in a record time.
In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses, President Kovind said the ₹64,000-crore PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission would prepare the country for a health crisis in the future.
“We have administered 150 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a record time,” he said.
The President said more than 70 per cent beneficiaries of the vaccination drive have been administered the second dose. Flagging other achievements of the Centre, he said over six crore rural households were getting tap water under Har Ghar Jal initiative. He said India’s agriculture exports had also crossed ₹3-lakh crore. He said despite the pandemic, country’s farmers produced 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore horticulture produce in 2020-21.
The President said more than 11 crore farmer families received ₹1.80-lakh crore through PM-KISAN and big changes have been seen in the farm sector.
The President said the government procured more than 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, which benefited more than 50 lakh farmers. The session begins ahead of the crucial assembly elections in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
Moving on to the other achievements of his government, the President said the Union governent had set a target of Net Zero emissions by 2070 under its commitment to deal with climate change.
Infra push
India now had a network of more than 1.40 lakh km of national highways as against 90,000 km in March 2014. Speaking of the government’s infra push, he said, 11 new metro rail lines had started and these were benefiting lakhs of commuters across eight states.
Textiles
The President said the Centre had set up Seven Mega Integrated Textile Regions & Apparel Parks at an investment of Rs 4500 crore.
