Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that the Bharatiya Janata Party government has brought about an improvement in the standard of living of the "deprived" sections of the society, who had been denied benefits in the last 60 years.
In an exclusive interview to Network 18’s Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Shah said, "Modi government has improved the standard of living of the people, who did not get any benefit in the past 60 years before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power," he said.
Highlighting the slew of welfare schemes introduced by PM Modi's government Shah said that houses were constructed for 25 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, while adding that efforts are underway to construct 5 more homes. He said that 25 crore people would soon receive supply of clean, potable water through a pipeline under the Jal Jivan Mission.
Shah also detailed the benefits of Centre's Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, which allowed citizens to receive the benefits through Direct Bank Transfer.
The Union Home Minister said that for the first time since India' independence, constitutional rights were awarded to a backward class, by providing 10 per cent reservation to economically weak upper castes.
Shah also spoke about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was introduced by the Modi government, and said it will reduce the suffering of the people who witness religious persecution in the neighbouring countries by providing them shelter in India and fast-tracking the process to grant them Indian citizenship. On the issue of abrogation of Article 370, Shah said that it had been a long-standing of the people of India and the Modi government decided to take the bold step.
He also mentioned how India had fared better in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking and added that for the first time, that poor farmer would be receiving one and a half times the Minimum Support Price.