Prez Murmu lays out vision for 'amrit kaal' to build developed India

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday urged people to put in their best to build in the next 25 years a developed India connected to its past glory and containing every golden chapter of modernity.

In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament as the Budget session began, she said 'Amrit Kaal', described by the government as the 25-year period culminating in the centenary of India's independence, is the time to build an India which is 'aatmanirbhar' (self reliant) and also fulfils its humanitarian obligations.

It will be an India with no poverty and a prosperous middle class and whose youth and women are at the vanguard of guiding the nation, the president said, amid frequent thumping of desks by lawmakers at the Central Hall of Parliament.

Under the nearly nine years of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, the country has seen many positive changes, she said, adding that the biggest change is that the self-confidence of every Indian is at its peak and the world has changed the way it looks at India. While India used to depend on others to solve its problems, it is now working to solve global problems, Murmu, India's first tribal president, said.

People have been given basic amenities missing for decades and modern infrastructure that society long aspired for is being built across the country, the president said. She cited the expansion of digital network and the crackdown on corruption during the Modi government's tenure.

''India now has a government which is stable, fearless and decisive and which works to fulfil big dreams. It has a government which respects honesty and works to solve the poor's problems and empower them permanently,'' she said. The government has fulfilled the aspirations of the deprived sections of society, the president said.