Modi: Naxalism being wiped off jungles, but 'Urban Naxals' spreading roots in cities

New Delhi, Mar 6 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said Naxalism was being wiped out from the jungles, but expressed concern that it was fast spreading roots in urban areas with some political parties also echoing their ideology.

Addressing the Republic Plenary Summit organised by the news channel here, Modi also targeted the Congress saying it had crushed the aspirations of people, who also stopped expecting much from the party.

He said things have now changed and the people's aspirations were rising in the past decade since his government came to power.

"Today's India thinks big, sets big targets and delivers big results. It is because the mentality of the country has changed. The country is moving ahead with big aspirations," Modi said.

"In the past decade, we have transformed impact-less administration into impactful governance," he asserted.

Modi said the youth are the X-factor of today's India, adding that the 'X' stands for experimentation, excellence, and expansion.

The prime minister said the government has worked hard on the security front and terror attacks and sleeper cells of terrorists have disappeared from television headlines as well as the country.

"Naxalism in the country is also on its last legs. In the past, over 100 districts were severely affected by this menace. However, this number has drastically reduced to just around two dozen districts today," Modi said.

He said this was made possible after the government focused on delivering governance at the grassroots level.

"While Naxalism is steadily being eradicated from jungles due to decisive actions, it is beginning to spread its roots into urban centres, presenting a new challenge," Modi said.

"Urban Naxals have cast their net so fast that a political party that opposed urban Naxals, was inspired by the thoughts of Gandhiji and had its pulse on the people, was now echoing their views," he said.

"Urban Naxals have entrenched themselves in such political parties. Today, we can hear the voice of urban Naxals in these political parties. We can imagine how deep their roots go," Modi said in an apparent reference to the Congress party.

"We have to remember that urban Naxals are strongly opposed to our development and heritage," he said.

The prime minister said both development and preservation of heritage were necessary for a developed India. "We have to guard against urban Naxals." Modi said the Congress had trampled the aspirations of the people who had stopped expecting from it. But in the last 10 years, the aspirations of the people have increased, he said.

He also said that the country has come out of the stereotype that it will sink and take the world down with it, and today India's achievements and successes have sparked a new wave of hope across the globe.

The prime minister said that in the last decade India has become the fifth largest economy of the world and will soon become the third largest.

He noted that after 65 years of Independence, India was the 11th largest economy in the world.

Asserting that India is driving global growth today, he said the country's achievements and successes have given new hope across the world.

"World is now recognizing this century as India's century and India's achievements and successes have sparked new hope globally," he said. "From toys to weapons, India has become self-reliant in the past 10 years and has turned into an exporter from an importer." The prime minister pointed out that in 2007, some 18 years ago, India's annual GDP stood at Rs 1 lakh crore, representing the total economic activity for an entire year.

But now, the same level of activity is achieved within just a single quarter. This remarkable transformation highlights the rapid pace of economic growth in present-day India, he asserted.

Referring to parliamentary debates, he said opposition members ask why PM Modi is not doing certain things, which indicates that they too think that Modi can do.

"Earlier, construction of houses was government-driven, but we have transformed it into an owner-driven approach," he said.

Prime Minister Modi emphasized that there was over Rs 100 lakh crore of untapped economic potential in India's villages and that this potential was present in the form of houses in villages, which lacked legal documents and proper mapping, preventing villagers from availing bank loans.

He pointed out that this issue is not unique to India, as many large countries also lack property rights for their citizens.

International organizations state that countries providing property rights to their citizens see a significant boost in GDP, he added.

"The Swamitva Scheme has been launched to provide property rights for village houses in India and drones are being used to survey and map each house in villages," Modi said.

He pointed out that the government is continuously removing the obstacles placed by previous administrations and cited the example of the space sector, where earlier everything was under ISRO's purview.

"While ISRO did commendable work, the potential of space science and entrepreneurship in the country was not fully utilized," he said.

Modi said the space sector has now been opened up for young innovators, resulting in the creation of over 250 space start-ups in the country.

These start-ups are now developing rockets like Vikram-S and Agnibaan, he added.

The prime minister also mentioned the mapping sector, where previously government permission was required to create maps in India.

"This restriction has been removed, and today, geospatial mapping data is paving the way for new start-ups," he added.

Pointing out that the nuclear energy sector was previously under government control with various restrictions, the prime minister said that this year's Budget has announced the opening of this sector to the private players, paving the way for adding 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047.

Asserting that the youth are the X-factor of the country, Modi said they have created new paths by moving beyond old methods, set global benchmarks, and scaled up innovations for 140 crore Indians.

He pointed out that the youth could provide solutions to the country's major problems, but this potential was not utilized earlier.

The prime minister pointed out that the government now organizes the Smart India Hackathon every year, with 10 lakh youth participating so far.

He said that various ministries and departments have presented numerous problem statements related to governance to these young participants, who have developed around 2,500 solutions. PTI