Delivering a lecture at a conference on 'Delivering Democracy: Reviewing two decades of Narendra Modi as head of the government' organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, Shah said the GDP must grow but its beneficiary should be the poor and the needy, adding that the Prime Minister's reforms have always been based on the needs of the poor.

 

Describing Modi as the best Prime Minister after independence, the Union Home Minister said houses for the poor were built earlier, too, but Modi has changed the scale of the policy.

 

"Two crore people have also been provided houses and I assure you that by August 15, 2022, every poor will have a house," Shah added.

 

Toilets have empowered women across the country, and providing water to every household will further improve the health of all Indians, he said.

 

Pointing to Modi's agricultural reforms, Shah said the previous governments chose the path of loan waivers but under Modiji's leadership, Rs 6,000 are deposited into farmers' accounts which help pay their input costs as there are 60 per cent marginal farmers and this amount is enough for the input cost of his agricultural activities.

 

Pointing out that the Prime Minister brought in governance reforms which are about transforming the ground reality and not superficial administrative changes, the Minister said for the first time a separate security policy was formulated under Modi's leadership and he differentiated the security policy from the shadow of the foreign policy.

 

After 2014, the Prime Minister took various bold decisions like demonetisation, abolition of Triple Talaq and One rank One Pension for the benefit of the defence forces, Shah added,

 

After 2019, when people of the country elected Modi for a second term, he announced the abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A from Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Referring to International Yoga day, Shah said under his leadership and policy, 177 countries in the world decided to celebrate June 21 as International Yoga Day every year.

 

Shah referred to the Ujjwala Yojana, clean drinking water to every household, 100 per cent electrification of villages across the country, Ayushman Bharat health card to seven crore people. The Home Minister said the country has recently touched the 100 crore vaccination mark under Modi's leadership.

 

Keeping in view the new challenges in all fields, the Prime Minister brought a separate drone policy, space policy, and merged green, blue and white revolutions into one integrated policy for agriculture.