President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday hailed the nation for declaring “over 1.4 lakh villages, 450 cities, 77 districts and three states as open defecation free”.
“My government salutes the strength of the janashakti (peoples’ power) to constructively utilise Rashtra Nirman (nation building),” Mukherjee said while addressing the joint session of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session.
He praised the countrymen for going through the struggle of demonetisation and said that the resilience showed by the citizens, particularly the poor in the fight against black money and corruption was remarkable. He further said, “the core of all my government policies, is the welfare of ‘gareeb’, ‘peedit’, ‘Dalit’, ‘vanchhit’. Govt committed to growth, ‘sabka saath sabka vikaas’.” The President praised the countrymen for voluntarily giving up the LPG subsidy to help the poor. He praised the Modi government for having taken many initiatives to improve the quality of life of the poor, and the commitment to provide shelter.