Pays tribute at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur; Unveils big plans for education and digital economy
Nagpur | April 14, 2017 : The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi wrapped up his one day visit to Nagpur today promising to build an inclusive India of Dr. Ambedkar’s dreams with thrust on socio-economic development, infrastructure development, higher education and a major push to the digital economy.
Prime Minister paid floral tributes to Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution of India, on his 126th birth anniversary at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur. Deekshabhoomi is the place where Dr.Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism in 1956 along with his large number of followers. PM Modi said he was delighted to be at Nagpur on Ambedkar Jayanti and for having got the opportunity to pray at the Deekshabhoomi.
PM Modi dedicated to nation three 660 Mw units of Koradi Thermal Power Plan of MahaGenco. PM was given a presentation and taken around the installation.
At the NITI Ayog organized event, Prime Minister launched the BHIM Aadhar Pay App in a bid to give a major impetus to promoting digital payment system in the country.
BHIM-Aadhaar, the merchant interface of the BHIM App paves the way for making digital payments by using the Aadhaar platform. This will enable every Indian citizen to pay digitally using his/her biometric data like thumb imprint on a merchants’ biometric enabled device which could be a smartphone having a biometric reader.
Shri Narendra Modi also launched two new incentive schemes for the BHIM – Cashback and Referral bonus – with an outlay of Rs. 495 crore for a period of six months. Under the Referral bonus scheme both the existing user who refers BHIM and the new user who adopts BHIM would get a cash bonus credited directly to their account. Under the Cashback scheme the merchants will get a cashback on every transaction using BHIM.
The Prime Minister also released two special commemorative postage stamps – one depicting Deekshabhoomi in its full glory and the other with twin pictures of Lord Gautam Buddha and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at another function in Nagpur today. He also laid the foundation stones for the Indian Institute of Management’s Nagpur campus and other premier institutes like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) and Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU).
Later, in his public address Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted to build an India for all citizens and the BHIM-Aadhar is the strongest foundation for building a new economy of new India.” Calling it a complete game changer, Prime Minister said BHIM-Aadhar will positively impact several lives across India. He said even the most advanced nations do not have such an inclusive system for promoting digital economy and asserted that soon it would become a case study for many foreign universities.
Expressing his confidence about India becoming a digital economy soon, the Prime Minister said “the time is not far when every India, even the poorest would say ‘Digi Dhan is Niji Dhan’ (Digital Money is My Money). He said less cash is better for a society as ‘more cash causes more problems’.
Referring to infrastructure development Shri Modi said “development can only happen when electricity is available. It is the primary need in order to move towards development.” He said electricity has become the common right of every citizen and said that the government was devoting significant effort to development of renewable energy sector. “We have a dream for 2022. The poorest of poor should have a house of his own. And that house must be equipped with electricity, water and other facilities” Shri Modi said.
In his address PM paid rich tribute to Dr. Ambedkar, saying that he did not have a trace of bitterness or revenge in him despite facing struggles in his life. Remembering the sacrifices made by the people of the country during Independence movement, PM Modi said, “Our freedom fighters happily gave up their lives for the sake of India’s freedom. They had a dream about an independent India, and we must do our best to make this nation as they would have wanted to see it”
Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Hansraj Ahir, Ramdas Athavale accompanied the PM on his Nagpur visit.
