In his almost one-and-a-half-hour-long speech, the President touched upon many issues.
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He said: “The development philosophy of the government was “Sabka saath, Sabka vikas“.
Mukherjee said the government has taken several steps for welfare of farmers, like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, which is the biggest ever government contribution to crop insurance with the lowest ever premium rates for farmers.
– My government firmly believes economic development and environmental protection can co-exist. Democratic temper calls for debate and discussion, and not disruption of obstruction. He also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative, saying it had boosted foreign direct investment by 39%, despite an adverse global investment climate. “India recorded the highest ever foreign exchange reserves in 2015”, he said. Noting that there was “significant improvement” in the overall security situation in the Northeast and Left Wing Exptremism affected states, Mukherjee said this has been made possible “through sustained efforts and measures taken by the intelligence agencies and security forcs in collaboration with the state governments”.
On agriculture which has suffered two successive seasons of inadequate rainfall, the president said the government was keen to fully harness the agricultural potential of eastern states and steps had been taken to usher in a second Green Revolution.
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Talking about the financial assistance to the farmers, Mukherjee said: “Assistance to farmers afflicted by the natural calamities has been increased by 50 percent and eligibility norms have been relaxed”. Also, the government will commission major transmission projects for reducing congestion in transmission. Out of Rs 25,000 crore set for the current fiscal, the government has infused about Rs 20,088 crore in 13 public sector banks. “The government has taken a number of measures to put in place a simplified, progressive and non-adversarial tax regime by incorporating internationally prevalent best practices in tax administration”, he said refering to taxpayer-friendly facilities like e-filing of returns, electronic processing and retrieval of documents and online grievance redressal.
