THE path to achieving the country’s target of a USD 5-trillion economy passes through Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday as the State launched works for 250 industrial projects worth Rs 65,000 crore.

Shah expressed confidence that the State will contribute to the target by becoming a USD 1-trillion economy and said the Yogi Adityanath Government has removed the biggest hurdle to UP’s development by improving the law and order situation.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set the target for the country to be among the top three economies in the world in the next five years, and “it is from this, that the idea of a USD 5-trillion economy originated”, he said at a second ground breaking ceremony for the projects here, which was attended by several

business leaders.

 

Like the first ground breaking ceremony, which took place last year, the second edition also aims at bringing investments in UP, India’s most populous state, and it is the third big event in this regard after the Investors Summit.

“I have heard that the road to becoming Prime Minister passes through Lucknow. Atalji (Atal Behari Vajpayee) was from here, and Narendra bhai is also from UP (Modi is MP from Varanasi). Earlier, there were 85 parliamentary seats, now there are 80.

 

“Today, I want to say, the road to a USD 5-trillion economy also passes through UP, and I’m sure that the State will contribute to it by becoming a USD 1-trillion economy,” Shah said.

 

In 2014, a new Government was formed under PM Modi and he started concentrating on many sectors. It was then in a meeting he had said “in the near past governments functioned only to exist, but this dispensation will work to transform the nation”, the home minister said.

 

Shah said the Modi Government started to transform every sector, be it security, economic development or culture, and the PM presented a model of development based on ‘Sarva-Sparshi’ (reaching every person) and ‘Sarva-Samaveshi’ (including all).

 

In 2014, a beginning was made and a foundation to make it a USD 5-trillion economy was laid between 2014 and 2019, he said. “People who wanted to comment on this, are commenting on it. The PM has worked to lay a concrete foundation for achieving the target,” he said.

 

Shah said after the Vajpayee Government, the UPA took over in 2004 and in the next 10 years, the economy remained at the 11th spot globally.

 

“UPA leaders used to boast that the economy hasn’t gone down. But in the last five years, from 11th we jumped to sixth. In the next five years, the target is to propel India into the top three ranks,” he said. Citing that there had been an increase in allocation of funds to the state by the 14th Finance Commission, he assured investors that “along with the state government, the Centre is also committed to the development of UP”.