Budget Session 2019: President Kovind says GST is a long-term policy, boon for business sector

Ahead of beginning of the crucial Budget Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Parliamentarians to work for the public. PM Modi said he hoped both Houses would function smoothly. While speaking to media outside Parliament on the first day of Budget Session, he urged the Opposition to cooperate and asked them to ensure healthy discussion. He requested members to maintain decorum of both the Houses."We are committed towards Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and ready to discuss on any issue in the Parliament," the PM said. The Prime Minister urged the parliamentarians to use the Budget session to discuss issues that matter to the country. After the PM's address, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the nation, speaking of a range of issues, and highlighting the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the past five years. He said the government had tried to make new India by implementing policies for the welfare of the common man, irrespective of cast, creed, and religion.

12.18pm: "By doing Surgical Strike, India has showed new policy and new direction," says the President.

12.18pm: "Every parent has a dream that their daughter and son are well-read and continue to pursue life. To enhance the opportunities for high-level professional education, the government is setting up new educational institutions and setting up 7 IIT, 7 IIM, 14 IIT, 1 NIT and 4 NID," says President Kovind.

12.17pm: "To give Muslim daughters equal rights as others women in the country, the government has tried to pass the bill in Parliament," says the President.

12.16pm: Citizenship Amendment Bill: The President says the Citizenship Amendment Bill will ease the way citizenship is obtained in Inida by those forced to flee to India. "It's not their faults, but they are a victim of the circumstances."

12.13pm: Under the Prime Minister's Saubhagya Yojana, 2 crore 47 lakh households have been given power connections. "Now India is rapidly moving towards the situation where each household will have electricity and no family will be forced to live in darkness," says President Kovind.

12.08pm: In the past four years, more than 1.3 crore houses have been built under the government's rural housing schemes.

12.05pm: Under the 'mass drug project ', 4,900 mass drug centres have been opened in more than 600 districts across the country so far. "More than 700 of these centres of medicines are being provided at a very low cost," says President Kovind.

12.02pm: President Kovind says under the Ujjwala scheme, more than 6 crore gas connections have been given so far. "After decades of effort, there were only 12 million gas connections in our country till the year 2014. In only four-and-a-half years, the government has added a total of 13 crore households to the gas connection.

12.01pm: More than 9 crore toilets have been built under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, says President Kovind.

12.00PM: President Ram Nath Kovind says over the past four years, the government has communicated a new hope and confidence in the people, enhanced the credibility of the country and made effective efforts for social and economic transformation.

11.58AM: "From the first day, my transparent government's vision was to improve the lives of all the countrymen, dispel their troubles from misrule and reach the mass-features of the person standing in the last line of society," says President Kovind.

11.46AM: Before the general elections of the year 2014, the country was undergoing an uncertainty. After the election, my government tried to create a new India: President Kovind.

11.43AM: "Under Jan Dhan Yojana, 34 crore people have opened a bank account and almost every family in the country is connected to the banking system," says President Ram Nath Kovind.

President Kovind: Under Jan Dhan Yojana, 34 crore people have opened a bank account & almost every family in the country is connected to the banking system. According to an international agency, 55% of the total bank accounts opened between 2014-2017 were opened in India itself. pic.twitter.com/Zdp3fcRIBH

- ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2019