Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora, in his maiden Rajya Sabha speech, said that life has come to a full circle. Former Congress leader who ended his family’s 55-year association with the party in January, recalled how Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray supported his father Murli Deora to become the mayor of Mumbai 47 years ago. He mentioned how now after 47 years, the same party has sent him to Rajya Sabha at the age of 47 years.
“In many ways, life has come a full circle because in 1977, 47 years ago, late Bala Saheb Thackeray supported my late father become the mayor of Mumbai.And today, 47 years later, at the age of 47, the president of Shiv Sena and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, has enabled me to represent Mumbai and Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha,” he said.
Deora also highlighted the “four Cs” which, according to him, were of concern for the country. The four factors outlined by him included: “China, City and Commuting and Climate Change.”
Read full text of Milind Deora’s maiden speech in Rajya Sabha here:
Sir, I am grate that you have given me the time to support the President’s address. Sir, I am very fortunate that my maiden speech in this august House responds to the Honorable President’s very articulate outlining of the government’s plans ahead for the next five years and highlights the government’s achievements over the last ten years. Sir, I am also extremely fortunate to have your esteemed presence in the chair during my maiden speech for which I thank you, sir.
Sir, before I begin my speech, if you permit, I would like to remember my late father, Mr. Murali Deora. When he passed away, he was at that time a member of this august House and he always taught me to stand up for myself and to keep loyalty for the country before loyalty for the party. Sir, I am sure today he is with me to guide me on this journey, on this new journey I should say, sir, and to bless me.
Sir, in many ways, life has come full circle because in 1977, 47 years ago, the late Balasaheb Thackeray supported my late father to become mayor of Mumbai’s financial capital, Mumbai. And today, 47 years later, at the age of 47, I am disclosing my age, the president of the Shiv Sena, Mr. Eknath Shindeji, the chief minister of Maharashtra has enabled me to represent Mumbai, Maharashtra and India through the Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha. Sir, for the first time in India’s history, we have an Adivasi woman President of India. And we have a leader who hails from a very, very humble background.
When people say that democracy is under threat, I want to answer them that the fact that an ordinary person who was selling tea on a railway track is now the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy proves that India’s democracy is strong, India’s constitution is strong. In Maharashtra too, sir, the chief minister, a very simple auto rickshaw driver, we have auto rickshaws in a certain part of Mumbai, an auto rickshaw driver rose to become the chief minister of the country’s second-largest state, the most industrialised state. This means for someone who is young and is watching us today that our democracy is in fact stronger than ever before.
Sir, many people, my former colleagues who are not here today, who I am sure when their chance comes to speak and through the public domain have been analyzing the Lok Sabha results in many, many ways. But the fact remains as few people before me have pointed out that Narendra Modi Ji is only the second Indian to be sworn in as Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms. The first being Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru exactly 62 years ago in 1962.
In fact, something which has not been said before me for the sake of not being repetitive, to give this house a sense of how high anti-incumbency levels are around the world and this is due to a variety of factors. There is a growing aspirational demanding voter, social media is playing a role in making people more impatient. Demographic transitions are underway.
In the last 10 years alone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji has seen and I will count down, 6 Prime Ministers of Pakistan, 5 Prime Ministers of the UK, 4 Presidents of Sri Lanka, 3 Presidents of the USA, 2 Presidents of France and finally, after Sushma Swaraj Ji, after a decade, one Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. So Sir, Modi Ji ka abhi bhi poora 5 saal ka karekaal baaki hai aur isi liye main Eknath Shinde Ji ke aur se, Shiv Sena ke aur se, Maharashtra ke aur se, Maananiya Pradhan Mantri Ji ko apne dil ke gherayee se badhai dena chahata hoon, unki Sarkar ke sabhi sadasyon ko bahut bahut shubh kamnaye dena chahata hoon. Sir, chunavi bhaashanon mein, main aksar mazaak mein kaha karta tha ki, yadi aap INDI Alliance se, I hataoge yaani INDIA se, yadi aap I letter ko hataoge, toh aapko NDA dikhai dega.
If you remove I from INDIA, you get NDA. My point I am making is that despite all our political differences, I still believe that there is more that unites us than divides us. And a new beginning must call for a starting afresh.
I am starting afresh and I believe that as we move from confrontation to collaboration, (6:43) we must replace the letter I with V. Sir, I wish to bring to your attention four Cs, the letter C, that I am sure everyone across this house will agree with me on. And we can rise above politics and agree that these are issues which concern our country. Some will see them as challenges, I personally see them as opportunities.
So the first C is China, the second C is cities, the third C is computing and the fourth C is climate change. All of these in varying degrees have been spoken about by the Honourable President. Sir, when we talk of China, the first C, today both the West and the Global South, the developed world and the developing world, have a trade deficit with China.
But in addition to a trade deficit, they also have a trust deficit with China. And India in that sense is very, very unique. (8:03) India today enjoys a trust surplus with the rest of the world.
Sir, today global investors, global companies are adopting what they call a China plus one strategy. What that essentially means is that for the last 20 or 30 years, most of these companies moved their manufacturing from Western countries to China. They created jobs in China, they strengthened China’s economy and as a result today, they are seeing geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and other parts of the world.
Today, those same companies, those same countries, those same investors, are moving investments, diversifying their factories to countries like India, to countries in the neighbourhood, maybe Vietnam and Bangladesh. And as rightly pointed out by the Honourable President of India, Sir, she made a very interesting remark. She said we must enhance cooperative federalism in our country between centre and states but far more importantly, competitive federalism between states.
I have always been a firm believer that if states compete aggressively against each other, that is what will make India truly competitive globally. My good friend Jayant Choudharyji is here. I congratulate him, Sir, through you for becoming a minister.
I was just telling him now that as a skills minister, as a young minister of skills development, one area that we can focus on is upskilling our workforce. Today, we remain very low in terms of the number of women in our workforce. If we look at our immediate neighbours in South Asia, if we look at our neighbours like Vietnam in Asia, they have a much higher participation of women in our workforce.
Having a program where we can upskill women in the workforce will be very, very useful for our country’s economy. And now I believe is the time for India leveraging on this China plus one strategy to become a leader not just in South Asia but in all of Asia.
And the leader of Asia today as we all know will be the leader and the super power of the world.
Sir, second C is cities. My close associate from Maharashtra spoke about urbanization. Many people see urbanization as a challenge.
Sir, I am a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra but Mumbai is my birthplace, my birthplace. I have a special place in my heart for Mumbai. And I believe what Mumbai is today, India will be tomorrow.
Sir, today when we talk of urbanization, in our country only one-third of Indians or 48 crore Indians live in cities. The rest live in rural areas. Conversely, in a country like China, two-thirds of China lives in cities and one-third lives in rural areas.
But the number of Indians living in cities in five or six short years is going to rise from 48 crore people to 59 crore people. Sir, in Mumbai, today the population of Mumbai is 2 crore and in 5 or 6 years, Mumbai’s population will become 3 crores. How we take advantage of this urbanization? (12:02) How we plan our cities effectively? This will allow us to reap a demographic dividend.
Sir, I certainly invite your esteemed self, sir, to visit Mumbai. I would through this speech invite many of my fellow MPs. In the last few years, massive transformations are underway in the city of Mumbai where we are trying to absorb the influx of people, urbanization from rural to urban areas.
And this is very, very critical for our economic growth. Sir, the third C I mentioned is computing. The honourable IT minister was in the house.
I was hoping during my speech I would be able to draw his attention in some ways to this issue. But, sir, superpowers of the 19th and 20th century were the countries that dominated the industrial revolution. The countries that become the superpowers of tomorrow, of the 21st century, will become countries that dominate in the area of artificial intelligence.
And, sir, every industry has a raw material. Artificial intelligence, which is being discussed on a large scale all over the world, the raw material of artificial intelligence is data. And today, India is going to become the world’s largest producer of this raw material.
Today, the average Chinese person is consuming 32 GB of data per day. The average Indian is consuming only 24 GB of data per day.
But, Mr. Rijiju ji, in the next four years, India will become the largest data consumer in the world.
The average Indian will consume 62 GB of data per day. We will be surpassing America, all of Europe, and even China. What does data mean? Data means that whenever we watch a video on WhatsApp, watch a video on YouTube, go to Facebook, Instagram, the data that we are using, the raw material that we are generating in India, that raw material is accruing value in companies in America, in Silicon Valley.
I believe, sir, it is time for us to leverage that raw material, to leverage that natural resource, and to build the next Google, to build the next Facebook, to build the next WhatsApp coming right here out of India. That is what can give us superpower status. And that, I believe, is the vision of the Prime Minister under the Digital India Initiative.
Sir, the fourth C I mentioned is climate change. Sir, a few days ago, in fact, in Delhi and Noida, it is a pity that due to the heat wave, some people died. Sir, who were these people who died? They were not, unfortunately for them, privileged people like us.
They were ragpickers. (15:27) They were manual laborers. They were security guards.
Sir, fortunately today in Delhi, I can say that we have brought some good weather from Mumbai. There is some monsoon weather here. But, sir, I am glad that the Honorable President, in her speech, spoke extensively.
Mr. Sudhanshu Trivedi, who initiated this debate, he also referred to that point, that the President of India spoke extensively about the greening of India’s economy. Sir, the Prime Minister has set a very ambitious target for this country, to become net zero. By the year 2070.
Once again, sir, many people will see this as a threat. I see the greening of India’s economy as a massive opportunity for us to invest in the industries of the future. Today, sir, India can become a world leader in offshore wind energy.
I read today that the government is using production linked incentives that the cabinet approved recently, to incentivize industry to generate electricity through offshore wind. In green hydrogen, the government has a very ambitious plan to build electrolyzers in India. Even with an open mind, we should think of nuclear.
Even in a small area, sir, like seaweed cultivation, which I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister once again, that if anyone spearheaded seaweed cultivation in India, it was the Prime Minister when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. And sir, seaweed is the food of the future. The Japanese, sir, as we know, have been eating seaweed for centuries and they have the highest life expectancy.
Seaweed is becoming an organic substitute for fertilizers. When it is mixed with fodder, it reduces methane gas emissions from cows and India is a big livestock population considering that we are the biggest dairy consumer and dairy producer. (17:30) My dear friend, Mr. G.K. Vasan is here.
Sir, if you go to Tamil Nadu, the entire coast of Rameshwaram, the farmers are growing seaweed in abundance and exporting that. These are small industries which we should think about. Climate change, in my opinion, is an opportunity.
Sir, I will give you two small examples. Today, there is a war between Russia and Ukraine in Europe. Almost all of Europe was entirely dependent on Russia for their energy needs.
Because of the war, Europe is forced to invest in innovative green technologies of the future. Wind energy, nuclear energy. Similarly, sir, you will recall, in the 70s, when the Arab-Israel war happened, and at that time, the Arab countries decided that they will not export oil to America.
America experienced what was called the oil shock. Petrol pumps were empty. Nobody could fill petrol and diesel.
That was the first time, under that time’s president, Jimmy Carter, when the first investment was made in photovoltaic solar technologies, which gave birth to solar energy. So, sir, every challenge presents, in many ways, an opportunity. Until such time, as India becomes a world leader, creates technologies of the future, I am glad that the government is using production-linked incentive schemes to incentivize and reduce our dependence on the supply chain that is dominated by countries like China, especially in electric vehicles, especially in solar, even going beyond climate change in the areas of semiconductor chips.
Sir, semiconductor chips is something now, in every car, on every tablet, on every table of every MP, everything requires that microchip. And Taiwan, small country, has in some ways a monopoly producing almost 95% of the world’s chip. I congratulate this government for diversifying from Taiwan and for bringing semiconductor plants in India for the first time.
Sir, I said that this is the time to be bold, to be decisive, and for the government to act. For the first time, as I said, in 62 years, there is a third consecutive term government. Sir, I would like to share an interesting example of a neighboring country in Asia, which has many similarities with India and it can be applied in some ways to India.
Sir, Singapore. The founding father of Singapore and the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who I have had the pleasure to meet several times. And he was a very good friend of India.
He was a well-wisher of India. Sometimes people wonder when they go to Singapore, how did this man, in a short span of time, how did he transform a former British colony, where most of the people lived in slums, there was no healthcare, there was rampant illiteracy, there were ethnic tensions, there were communal riots. Sir, he took three simple but very controversial decisions at the time.
I am in no way advocating those decisions for India, but I am just pointing it out when I talk about being bold. His first decision, he said, despite the fact that in Singapore, there were Indians, largely our Tamil brothers and sisters, there were ethnic Chinese, there were Malays, people from Malaysia. e said, I want everyone to speak English, because that is the language of the future and that is what will make Singaporeans employable globally.
Second thing he did was, he said, I want to attract the best talent from around the world to come live, work in Singapore and strengthen the economy of Singapore. The third thing he did, which I think everyone will agree with, he said, politicians must be paid salaries equal to the private sector,so that there is no corruption whatsoever. And sir, he achieved honestly nothing short of a miracle.
Sir, my limited point, a third consecutive term government is historic, it is a record government, the world is watching India, there are global tailwinds, being from Mumbai, I meet a diverse section of people, people want India to succeed. It is for us to be bold, it is for us to be decisive, it is for us to act very, very aggressively. Sir, before concluding my speech, the reason I am not taking my, sorry, I have already reached 22 minutes, I thought I have not reached.
Sir, before concluding my speech, thank you, thank you. Sir, before concluding my speech, I would like to highlight something that the honourable President said about this government’s achievement. But I believe that there is one achievement, one achievement, which stands out above all achievements.
And I say this as a Mumbaikar. Sir, under this government,) cities like Mumbai, have been completely eradicated of terror attacks during the last decade. Regrettably, this was a regular feature.
Sir, I have represented Mumbai, I was the MP of South Mumbai when 26-11 happened. From 2006, there was a train blast. There was 26-11 in 2008.
There was the Zaveri Bazaar and the serial blasts in Mumbai.All of this has been eliminated. At that time alone, 400 people died.
Sir, I believe national security of our country is paramount. If we want to grow our economy, we want investors to come here, we have to ensure that our national security is protected. Our national security remains stronger than ever.
And I congratulate this government for ensuring that, not just in a city like Mumbai, but across the country. Sir, with these words, I didn’t realize I have already crossed 24 minutes,but I am extremely grateful to you, sir, for the time and for being present in the chair while I make my maiden remarks. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
“In many ways, life has come a full circle because in 1977, 47 years ago, late Bala Saheb Thackeray supported my late father become the mayor of Mumbai.And today, 47 years later, at the age of 47, the president of Shiv Sena and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, has enabled me to represent Mumbai and Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha,” he said.
Deora also highlighted the “four Cs” which, according to him, were of concern for the country. The four factors outlined by him included: “China, City and Commuting and Climate Change.”
Read full text of Milind Deora’s maiden speech in Rajya Sabha here:
Sir, I am grate that you have given me the time to support the President’s address. Sir, I am very fortunate that my maiden speech in this august House responds to the Honorable President’s very articulate outlining of the government’s plans ahead for the next five years and highlights the government’s achievements over the last ten years. Sir, I am also extremely fortunate to have your esteemed presence in the chair during my maiden speech for which I thank you, sir.
Sir, before I begin my speech, if you permit, I would like to remember my late father, Mr. Murali Deora. When he passed away, he was at that time a member of this august House and he always taught me to stand up for myself and to keep loyalty for the country before loyalty for the party. Sir, I am sure today he is with me to guide me on this journey, on this new journey I should say, sir, and to bless me.
Sir, in many ways, life has come full circle because in 1977, 47 years ago, the late Balasaheb Thackeray supported my late father to become mayor of Mumbai’s financial capital, Mumbai. And today, 47 years later, at the age of 47, I am disclosing my age, the president of the Shiv Sena, Mr. Eknath Shindeji, the chief minister of Maharashtra has enabled me to represent Mumbai, Maharashtra and India through the Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha. Sir, for the first time in India’s history, we have an Adivasi woman President of India. And we have a leader who hails from a very, very humble background.
When people say that democracy is under threat, I want to answer them that the fact that an ordinary person who was selling tea on a railway track is now the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy proves that India’s democracy is strong, India’s constitution is strong. In Maharashtra too, sir, the chief minister, a very simple auto rickshaw driver, we have auto rickshaws in a certain part of Mumbai, an auto rickshaw driver rose to become the chief minister of the country’s second-largest state, the most industrialised state. This means for someone who is young and is watching us today that our democracy is in fact stronger than ever before.
Sir, many people, my former colleagues who are not here today, who I am sure when their chance comes to speak and through the public domain have been analyzing the Lok Sabha results in many, many ways. But the fact remains as few people before me have pointed out that Narendra Modi Ji is only the second Indian to be sworn in as Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms. The first being Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru exactly 62 years ago in 1962.
In fact, something which has not been said before me for the sake of not being repetitive, to give this house a sense of how high anti-incumbency levels are around the world and this is due to a variety of factors. There is a growing aspirational demanding voter, social media is playing a role in making people more impatient. Demographic transitions are underway.
In the last 10 years alone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji has seen and I will count down, 6 Prime Ministers of Pakistan, 5 Prime Ministers of the UK, 4 Presidents of Sri Lanka, 3 Presidents of the USA, 2 Presidents of France and finally, after Sushma Swaraj Ji, after a decade, one Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. So Sir, Modi Ji ka abhi bhi poora 5 saal ka karekaal baaki hai aur isi liye main Eknath Shinde Ji ke aur se, Shiv Sena ke aur se, Maharashtra ke aur se, Maananiya Pradhan Mantri Ji ko apne dil ke gherayee se badhai dena chahata hoon, unki Sarkar ke sabhi sadasyon ko bahut bahut shubh kamnaye dena chahata hoon. Sir, chunavi bhaashanon mein, main aksar mazaak mein kaha karta tha ki, yadi aap INDI Alliance se, I hataoge yaani INDIA se, yadi aap I letter ko hataoge, toh aapko NDA dikhai dega.
If you remove I from INDIA, you get NDA. My point I am making is that despite all our political differences, I still believe that there is more that unites us than divides us. And a new beginning must call for a starting afresh.
I am starting afresh and I believe that as we move from confrontation to collaboration, (6:43) we must replace the letter I with V. Sir, I wish to bring to your attention four Cs, the letter C, that I am sure everyone across this house will agree with me on. And we can rise above politics and agree that these are issues which concern our country. Some will see them as challenges, I personally see them as opportunities.
So the first C is China, the second C is cities, the third C is computing and the fourth C is climate change. All of these in varying degrees have been spoken about by the Honourable President. Sir, when we talk of China, the first C, today both the West and the Global South, the developed world and the developing world, have a trade deficit with China.
But in addition to a trade deficit, they also have a trust deficit with China. And India in that sense is very, very unique. (8:03) India today enjoys a trust surplus with the rest of the world.
Sir, today global investors, global companies are adopting what they call a China plus one strategy. What that essentially means is that for the last 20 or 30 years, most of these companies moved their manufacturing from Western countries to China. They created jobs in China, they strengthened China’s economy and as a result today, they are seeing geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and other parts of the world.
Today, those same companies, those same countries, those same investors, are moving investments, diversifying their factories to countries like India, to countries in the neighbourhood, maybe Vietnam and Bangladesh. And as rightly pointed out by the Honourable President of India, Sir, she made a very interesting remark. She said we must enhance cooperative federalism in our country between centre and states but far more importantly, competitive federalism between states.
I have always been a firm believer that if states compete aggressively against each other, that is what will make India truly competitive globally. My good friend Jayant Choudharyji is here. I congratulate him, Sir, through you for becoming a minister.
I was just telling him now that as a skills minister, as a young minister of skills development, one area that we can focus on is upskilling our workforce. Today, we remain very low in terms of the number of women in our workforce. If we look at our immediate neighbours in South Asia, if we look at our neighbours like Vietnam in Asia, they have a much higher participation of women in our workforce.
Having a program where we can upskill women in the workforce will be very, very useful for our country’s economy. And now I believe is the time for India leveraging on this China plus one strategy to become a leader not just in South Asia but in all of Asia.
And the leader of Asia today as we all know will be the leader and the super power of the world.
Sir, second C is cities. My close associate from Maharashtra spoke about urbanization. Many people see urbanization as a challenge.
Sir, I am a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra but Mumbai is my birthplace, my birthplace. I have a special place in my heart for Mumbai. And I believe what Mumbai is today, India will be tomorrow.
Sir, today when we talk of urbanization, in our country only one-third of Indians or 48 crore Indians live in cities. The rest live in rural areas. Conversely, in a country like China, two-thirds of China lives in cities and one-third lives in rural areas.
But the number of Indians living in cities in five or six short years is going to rise from 48 crore people to 59 crore people. Sir, in Mumbai, today the population of Mumbai is 2 crore and in 5 or 6 years, Mumbai’s population will become 3 crores. How we take advantage of this urbanization? (12:02) How we plan our cities effectively? This will allow us to reap a demographic dividend.
Sir, I certainly invite your esteemed self, sir, to visit Mumbai. I would through this speech invite many of my fellow MPs. In the last few years, massive transformations are underway in the city of Mumbai where we are trying to absorb the influx of people, urbanization from rural to urban areas.
And this is very, very critical for our economic growth. Sir, the third C I mentioned is computing. The honourable IT minister was in the house.
I was hoping during my speech I would be able to draw his attention in some ways to this issue. But, sir, superpowers of the 19th and 20th century were the countries that dominated the industrial revolution. The countries that become the superpowers of tomorrow, of the 21st century, will become countries that dominate in the area of artificial intelligence.
And, sir, every industry has a raw material. Artificial intelligence, which is being discussed on a large scale all over the world, the raw material of artificial intelligence is data. And today, India is going to become the world’s largest producer of this raw material.
Today, the average Chinese person is consuming 32 GB of data per day. The average Indian is consuming only 24 GB of data per day.
But, Mr. Rijiju ji, in the next four years, India will become the largest data consumer in the world.
The average Indian will consume 62 GB of data per day. We will be surpassing America, all of Europe, and even China. What does data mean? Data means that whenever we watch a video on WhatsApp, watch a video on YouTube, go to Facebook, Instagram, the data that we are using, the raw material that we are generating in India, that raw material is accruing value in companies in America, in Silicon Valley.
I believe, sir, it is time for us to leverage that raw material, to leverage that natural resource, and to build the next Google, to build the next Facebook, to build the next WhatsApp coming right here out of India. That is what can give us superpower status. And that, I believe, is the vision of the Prime Minister under the Digital India Initiative.
Sir, the fourth C I mentioned is climate change. Sir, a few days ago, in fact, in Delhi and Noida, it is a pity that due to the heat wave, some people died. Sir, who were these people who died? They were not, unfortunately for them, privileged people like us.
They were ragpickers. (15:27) They were manual laborers. They were security guards.
Sir, fortunately today in Delhi, I can say that we have brought some good weather from Mumbai. There is some monsoon weather here. But, sir, I am glad that the Honorable President, in her speech, spoke extensively.
Mr. Sudhanshu Trivedi, who initiated this debate, he also referred to that point, that the President of India spoke extensively about the greening of India’s economy. Sir, the Prime Minister has set a very ambitious target for this country, to become net zero. By the year 2070.
Once again, sir, many people will see this as a threat. I see the greening of India’s economy as a massive opportunity for us to invest in the industries of the future. Today, sir, India can become a world leader in offshore wind energy.
I read today that the government is using production linked incentives that the cabinet approved recently, to incentivize industry to generate electricity through offshore wind. In green hydrogen, the government has a very ambitious plan to build electrolyzers in India. Even with an open mind, we should think of nuclear.
Even in a small area, sir, like seaweed cultivation, which I would like to congratulate the Prime Minister once again, that if anyone spearheaded seaweed cultivation in India, it was the Prime Minister when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. And sir, seaweed is the food of the future. The Japanese, sir, as we know, have been eating seaweed for centuries and they have the highest life expectancy.
Seaweed is becoming an organic substitute for fertilizers. When it is mixed with fodder, it reduces methane gas emissions from cows and India is a big livestock population considering that we are the biggest dairy consumer and dairy producer. (17:30) My dear friend, Mr. G.K. Vasan is here.
Sir, if you go to Tamil Nadu, the entire coast of Rameshwaram, the farmers are growing seaweed in abundance and exporting that. These are small industries which we should think about. Climate change, in my opinion, is an opportunity.
Sir, I will give you two small examples. Today, there is a war between Russia and Ukraine in Europe. Almost all of Europe was entirely dependent on Russia for their energy needs.
Because of the war, Europe is forced to invest in innovative green technologies of the future. Wind energy, nuclear energy. Similarly, sir, you will recall, in the 70s, when the Arab-Israel war happened, and at that time, the Arab countries decided that they will not export oil to America.
America experienced what was called the oil shock. Petrol pumps were empty. Nobody could fill petrol and diesel.
That was the first time, under that time’s president, Jimmy Carter, when the first investment was made in photovoltaic solar technologies, which gave birth to solar energy. So, sir, every challenge presents, in many ways, an opportunity. Until such time, as India becomes a world leader, creates technologies of the future, I am glad that the government is using production-linked incentive schemes to incentivize and reduce our dependence on the supply chain that is dominated by countries like China, especially in electric vehicles, especially in solar, even going beyond climate change in the areas of semiconductor chips.
Sir, semiconductor chips is something now, in every car, on every tablet, on every table of every MP, everything requires that microchip. And Taiwan, small country, has in some ways a monopoly producing almost 95% of the world’s chip. I congratulate this government for diversifying from Taiwan and for bringing semiconductor plants in India for the first time.
Sir, I said that this is the time to be bold, to be decisive, and for the government to act. For the first time, as I said, in 62 years, there is a third consecutive term government. Sir, I would like to share an interesting example of a neighboring country in Asia, which has many similarities with India and it can be applied in some ways to India.
Sir, Singapore. The founding father of Singapore and the first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who I have had the pleasure to meet several times. And he was a very good friend of India.
He was a well-wisher of India. Sometimes people wonder when they go to Singapore, how did this man, in a short span of time, how did he transform a former British colony, where most of the people lived in slums, there was no healthcare, there was rampant illiteracy, there were ethnic tensions, there were communal riots. Sir, he took three simple but very controversial decisions at the time.
I am in no way advocating those decisions for India, but I am just pointing it out when I talk about being bold. His first decision, he said, despite the fact that in Singapore, there were Indians, largely our Tamil brothers and sisters, there were ethnic Chinese, there were Malays, people from Malaysia. e said, I want everyone to speak English, because that is the language of the future and that is what will make Singaporeans employable globally.
Second thing he did was, he said, I want to attract the best talent from around the world to come live, work in Singapore and strengthen the economy of Singapore. The third thing he did, which I think everyone will agree with, he said, politicians must be paid salaries equal to the private sector,so that there is no corruption whatsoever. And sir, he achieved honestly nothing short of a miracle.
Sir, my limited point, a third consecutive term government is historic, it is a record government, the world is watching India, there are global tailwinds, being from Mumbai, I meet a diverse section of people, people want India to succeed. It is for us to be bold, it is for us to be decisive, it is for us to act very, very aggressively. Sir, before concluding my speech, the reason I am not taking my, sorry, I have already reached 22 minutes, I thought I have not reached.
Sir, before concluding my speech, thank you, thank you. Sir, before concluding my speech, I would like to highlight something that the honourable President said about this government’s achievement. But I believe that there is one achievement, one achievement, which stands out above all achievements.
And I say this as a Mumbaikar. Sir, under this government,) cities like Mumbai, have been completely eradicated of terror attacks during the last decade. Regrettably, this was a regular feature.
Sir, I have represented Mumbai, I was the MP of South Mumbai when 26-11 happened. From 2006, there was a train blast. There was 26-11 in 2008.
There was the Zaveri Bazaar and the serial blasts in Mumbai.All of this has been eliminated. At that time alone, 400 people died.
Sir, I believe national security of our country is paramount. If we want to grow our economy, we want investors to come here, we have to ensure that our national security is protected. Our national security remains stronger than ever.
And I congratulate this government for ensuring that, not just in a city like Mumbai, but across the country. Sir, with these words, I didn’t realize I have already crossed 24 minutes,but I am extremely grateful to you, sir, for the time and for being present in the chair while I make my maiden remarks. Thank you very much.
Thank you.