New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): Lauding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government upon completion of nine years in office, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said that during this period India's image has changed from "colonial to self-reliant".

Listing out the achievements of the Modi government in nine years in a press conference, Scindia said, "In the last nine years, our government has not only connected the deprived and exploited people with the mainstream but has also empowered them.""Today India is the fastest growing economy with the number one smartphone data consumer, the second largest mobile manufacturer, the number one global fintech adoption rate and the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world," he added.

"In the last nine years, the image of India has changed from colonial to self-reliant. The new Parliament House of India has not only adopted modernity but it is an amalgamation of ancient culture and civilization," he further remarked.

Scindia said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked to take the country forward on the basis of heritage and an example of the same is the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"During the tenure of the last 9 years, the Modi government has given everything to the country which we could never have imagined," said Scindia.

"The basis of Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas, the work of giving 10 per cent reservation on an economic basis was done for social development. We will start 400 Vande Bharat trains out of which 20 have already started. In 68 years of independence, 74 airports were built, whereas in nine years of Prime Minister Modi's government, 74 new airports have been built," Scindia noted.

"Earlier the highways which were built 12 kilometres per day have increased three times today. Metro expansion in 15 cities in nine years, 700 new medical colleges, 15 new AIIMS, seven new IITs, seven new IIMs and the work of making 390 new universities have been done," Scindia added.

Highlighting the government's focus on farmers' issue, Scindia said, "For the development of farmers, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, the central government has done the historic task of disbursing Rs 2 lakh 25 thousand crore to the accounts of 11 crore farmers.""There was a time when we had seen this India pleading for the vaccine and today the same India did the work of saving lives by giving 220 crore vaccines not only to the countrymen but also to more than 100 other countries by exporting 'Made in India' vaccine during the Covid period," he added.

The Union Minister said, "Free ration is still being given to 80 crore poor people under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana started during the Covid period and free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Yojana." (ANI)