The world is surprised by India’s rapid progress despite Covid: CM Yogi

New Delhi: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that India, which is rapidly changing and moving ahead in every field of development, is a matter of curiosity and wonder for the whole world. Yogi said that the new India provides so many houses to the poor in which a new Australia can settle in, adding that while the population of Australia is around 30 million in India, houses for 30 million poor people have been built in the last few years.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion of the 90th Founder’s Week celebrations of Maharana Pratap (MP) Education Council in Gorakhpur on Saturday, CM Yogi said India provided free ration to 800 million people during the Corona period, more than the combined population of all the countries of America and European Union. CM Yogi presided over the prize distribution programme organized at the conclusion of the celebrations.

Welcoming Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who was the chief guest at the event, the Chief Minister said that when the whole world was battered by the novel coronavirus, India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with strong will and the spirit to face challenges, made excellent and the best management of the virus while ensuring development of the country, public welfare.

The PM presented a unique example before the world by taking forward the plans and introducing a forward-looking National Education Policy, Yogi said. He added that today India is the fastest growing economy in the world and has become the fifth largest economy of the world leaving behind Britain which ruled the country for 200 years.

Terming the leadership of G-20 as “an unprecedented achievement for India”, the Chief Minister said that the group comprises countries that represent 60 percent of the world’s population, 75 percent of trade, 85 percent of GDP and 95 percent of patents. “The theme of the G-20 under the leadership of India is- Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, i.e. One Family, One Earth and One Future. Our country has always given importance to this feeling. India has given shelter to every religion in times of trouble.”

Yogi Adityanath said that more than 11 programmes of G-20 are to be held in four cities of Uttar Pradesh for which preparations must start now itself. He added that educational institutions should also begin their preparations in this regard.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath further pointed out India, under the leadership of PM Modi, achieved the historic feat of developing two vaccines for the novel coronavirus within nine months of the outbreak of the pandemic and made it available to 135 crore popuplation free of cost while it had taken 100 years for the vaccine for encephalitis, which claimed lives of thousands of children every year, to arrive in India. He said that the encephalitis vaccine was made in Japan in 1905, but in eastern Uttar Pradesh, vaccinations started in 2006.

In his address, the Chief Minister advised the educational institutions to come out of their neutral role and engage with practicality. He said that according to today’s requirements, educational institutions will have to move towards practical information rather than staying confined to the classroom.

He said that 23,600 people died in Uttar Pradesh during the pandemic, while the same number of deaths occur in road accidents in a year. Over speeding, not using helmet-seat belt and wrong road engineering are the reasons for this. Educational institutions can reduce the number of deaths in road accidents by including an awareness session on traffic rules in the prayer meeting.

The Chief Minister said that Indian saints did not limit knowledge to bookish knowledge and attached a lot of importance to practical knowledge. Mahant Digvijaynath ji had established the Maharana Pratap Education Council in 1932.

On this occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also encouraged sportspersons and said that there were immense possibilities in the field of sports in Gorakhpur and eastern Uttar Pradesh. “The wrestlers here used to make a splash in the world. The Kabaddi team of Gorakhpur was considered very good. The talents here can go a long way in swimming, sailing, shooting. Institutions will have to make efforts for this, the government will cooperate in this”, the CM said.