As the first day of the Budget Session commenced in the Parliament on Friday, 29 January, President Ram Nath Kovind in his address slammed the violence in the national capital on 26 January amid the farmers’ tractor rally and said that the ‘national flag and the Republic day were insulted in the past few days’.
“The national flag and a holy day like Republic Day were insulted in the past few days. The Constitution that provides us Freedom of Expression, is the same Constitution that teaches us that law and rules have to be followed seriously,” Kovind said.
He further said that farmers from all strata of the society are a priority for the government.
“My government would like to clarify that the rights and facilities that were available before the formation of the three farm laws have not been cut short, in fact with these new agricultural reforms the government has provided new facilities and rights to farmers,” he added.
“Small and marginal farmers are also a priority for my government. To support such farmers in their small expenses, around Rs 1,13,000 crores have been transferred directly to their accounts, under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi,” he added.
Kovind Remembers Pranab Mukherjee, MPs Who Died of COVID-19
President Kovind also lauded India’s ‘timely response’ to COVID-19 and remembered all the parliamentarians who lost their lives during the pandemic, including former President Pranad Mukherjee.
“In this fight against the pandemic, we lost many citizens. Former President Pranab Mukherjee passed away in this Corona period. Six MPs left us untimely due to COVID. I pay my tribute to all of them,” he said.
“I am satisfied that the timely decision taken by my government saved the lives of lakhs of citizens. Today the number of new COVID cases is going down rapidly. The number of recoveries is very high,” he said.
President Kovind further lauded the vaccination drive against COVID-19, calling it a ‘matter of pride’.
“It is a matter of pride that India is running the biggest vaccination program in the world. Both vaccines of this program are made in India. In this crisis India shouldered its responsibility towards mankind and provided lakhs of doses of vaccines to several nations,” Kovind said.
He also highlighted the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and said that the poor are getting medicines at very low costs across 7,000 centres across the country under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana.
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