PM Narendra Modi on Thursday took a dig at the Opposition’s attempts to derail the NDA government’s economic agenda and said that it is hurting the Indian economy. Narendra Modi said linking politics to development has been the biggest obstacle in India’s growth. The Prime Minister was addressing a rally at Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Sonipat in Haryana. Here are top 10 most striking points in In Narendra Modi’s speech today:

1. The key to progress lies in robust infrastructure and efforts have led to rolling out of stuck projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore.

2. States must create a sound infrastructure in order to ensure that development percolates down to the poor. It should be the state’s priority to ensure that benefits of development should reach the doors of Dalits and down-trodden in the society and their equal participation in development.

3. In today’s era, infrastructure is the first and foremost priority for development. Be it power, water, road and wherever infrastructure reaches, development gets accelerated, a big change comes in quality of life when such facilities come. But if equitable development is to be undertaken and to make people self dependent, it is essential to focus on infrastructure. It is not money that builds roads, but it is roads which generate money. These highways would give pace to Haryana’s growth, adding that Rs 32,000 crore worth of projects are there for the state. (Modi laid the foundation stone of three major highway projects in the state – Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and eight-laning of Highway section from Mukarba Chowk (Delhi) to Panipat).

4. Korea is an excellent example of how the country achieved economic prosperity through creating a network of highways. Korea is a good example, see how it has progressed by leaps and bounds. Their rulers started a modern highway cutting through the country, but there was much controversy as it was reasoned at that time that the nation is poor, it does not have schools, hospitals and spending so much money on roads was not a wise step. … but rulers of that country at that time, still went ahead and did this and it changed the fate of entire Korea.

5. But most of the times in our country, governments remain in dilemma. They feel if any voter gets benefited, then there will be benefits in elections. But if roads are made, people feel ‘usme kya hai’ (what is a big deal in it)… it is the work of the government… ‘mera kya hua’ (what benefit I got out of it). And this dilemma has been there for years in our country, and perhaps is the biggest stumbling block in the country’s development.

6. Modi said during the last five-six months he had reviewed pending projects in meetings with the Chief Ministers through video conferencing and stuck projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore could be rolled out.

7. Government laid emphasis on a wide network of highways to be created in the country, including linking of 123 districts with National Highways, which sadly were devoid of it despite over six decades of Independence. Nobody could have imagined during 60 years of Independence that highways building would pick up such fast pace in the country under the leadership of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

8. Under Sethu Bharatam, 375 bridges were needed for connectivity because the project aimed at providing vital connectivity through bridges. On the other side, Sagarmala would usher in port-led development projects in coastal cities, he said, adding that coastal trade too played a pivotal role in the economic growth of the country.

9. Waterways promotion is important too. If apples of Himachal Pradesh could be delivered to different corners in the world through this mode, think how much the farmers would be benefited.

10. Government has undertaken several initiatives, including converting the present rail era into a modern one with initiatives like expansion and modernisation of railway stations. Unfortunately, 18,000 villages in modern India still lack electricity connection and no electric pole or wire is there in the 21st century but the government is committed in this direction too. The government is committed to take 24×7 electricity to every village by 2022 and is not a simple task. The modern era, apart from highways, is also the era of I-ways – Information Ways.