Jaipur, April 13 (IANS): Bharatiya Janata Party leader General V.K. Singh (Retd) was in Jaipur on Saturday where he listed the achievements of the BJP-led Central government in the past 10 years, which he claimed put India among the top five economies of the world. He claimed that 60 per cent of the world's digital transactions happen in India.
Addressing a press conference here, Gen Singh, the Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation, said that China has never occupied any piece of Indian territory in the past 10 years. He was answering a query on the Congress allegation that Indian land has been occupied by China. He termed it as a sheer lie.
Under the Narendra Modi government's rule China has not occupied any land, nor will it be allowed to do so, he asserted.
On the question of PoK merging with India, Gen Singh said that he had already said that it will merge on its own. "Let it come," he added.
Gen Singh said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India had consistently smashed its own record every year in the field of FDI. Out of 182 countries, 162 countries are investing in India in 32 different areas across the country.
On road connectivity, he said the road network has expanded in the last 10 years benefitting the people across the country.
In 2014, the national highways stretched to 90000 km which has increased to 1.60 lakh km now, he said.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has made travel smoother to Delhi. In fact, those associated with civil aviation say that people these days prefer travelling via road as compared to air travel due to the smooth roads and connectivity, he said.
He added that in 2014 there were 74 airports which have now increased to 148 airports.
We will try to take this number to 200 in the coming years, he promised.
Speaking on the benefits of investing in infrastructure, he said, “We became strong financially by investing in infrastructure as the money invested in it helped industries in different segments thereby pushing the overall economy to new heights."
We are growing at the rate of 6.8pc which is the highest in the world. The world looks upon India with high hopes because it has strong leadership. We have a PM who pays personal attention to each sector, he added.
The minister mentioned segments like mining and railways and said that a lot of work has been done in these areas.
Attention has also been paid to green energy. Research is going on to produce hydrogen too. In this stream, we are equal to Japan. Although we don’t speak much about it, silently work is in progress at a fast pace, he added.
If we speak about the digital field, mobiles are being manufactured and exported. India has become the biggest exporter of Apple mobiles, he said.
Gen Singh added, “Digital data is the cheapest in India and hence people in villages can be seen using social media. Sixty per cent of the world's digital transactions happen in India.”