New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the success of India’s vaccine drive calling it as “stunning success” to the country being atmanirbhar or self-reliant, adding that he made sure that technology formed the backbone of the vaccination process.
He also said that he gives ‘big importance’ to criticism, “Imagine if our country had not come up with a vaccine. What would be the situation? We know that a large population of the world doesn’t have access to Covid vaccines. Today, our success in vaccination is thanks to India being atmanirbhar,” PM Modi said in an interview to Open magazine.”
Sixty-nine per cent of the country’s adult population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 25 per cent has taken both doses, the government said earlier this week. It aims to vaccinate all eligible population by December-end.
PM Modi said most people only level allegations as they lack the time to study the issue, while criticism is rooted in research.
“I, with an honest mind, respect critics a lot. But, unfortunately, the number of critics is very low. Mostly, people only level allegations, the people who play games about perception are more in number. And the reason for this is that , for criticism, one has to do a lot of hard work, research and, in today’s fast-paced world, may be people don’t have time. So sometimes, I miss critics,” he added.
“We need to look at the entire logistics, planning and progress to understand the success of the vaccine drive. It is a huge effort with so many people mobilised across the country. I hope the media will take time out to highlight the efforts of our people in making the world’s largest vaccination drive a stunning success,” the PM told the magazine.
He also said that instead of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyaan” to extend the slogan to “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyaan, Jai Anusandhan (research)”.
“We started planning for the vaccination drive right in May 2020 when no vaccine was even close to approval anywhere in the world. We had decided as early as then that we did not want this vaccination drive to run in the old way where it could take decades to vaccinate people. We wanted this to run in a fast, efficient, discretion-free and timebound manner,” said the PM.
He further said that India has done a good job when it comes to vaccination comparing to other countries, “When we compare India’s situation in the world, we have done better than many developed countries. However, we have in our midst vested interests whose only aim is to tarnish India’s name. COVID-19 was a global scourge with all countries equally affected. In this scenario, India has done better that its peers and many developed countries, notwithstanding such negative campaigns,” he said.
Focusing on the water supply sanitation he said, “We are actively focusing on preventive healthcare. From improved sanitation to water supply, from yoga to Ayurveda, from strengthening diagnostic centres in remote areas, we are doing it all,” he stressed.
He said that India has become one of the biggest manufacturers across the globe, “From being a net importer of PPE kits, we have now become one of the biggest manufacturers across the globe. Similarly, we not only managed to exponentially increase the number of ventilators but also did so largely through domestic manufacturing. India achieved this despite limited global knowledge about the virus, the economic impact of lockdown and existing state capacity constraints. Is there any better evidence of our ability to bring transformative change?” asked PM Modi.
On the criticism against the banging of thalis and lighting diyas, the Prime Minister said there was a need to boost the morale of healthcare and frontline workers. He said the event turned into a big mass movement.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
