India is now a country of hope from a country of gloom: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Modi Sarkar Year One Dialogue

New Delhi: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi India is destined to become a world power, said Union Telecom and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. "Even Time magazine has put Modi on its cover page saying that India is destined to be a world power," said Prasad at Network18's Modi Sarkar Year One Dialogue in New Delhi on Friday.

Calling Modi the best communicator in the world, he said, "India has become a country of hope from being a country of gloom."

Attacking the previous UPA government he said, "Even the ministers were not considering Manmohan Singh as their PM. There was total chaos. Perception is very important. Perception bereft of reality is of no use. It took us sometime to instil confidence and have a clear vision. It took us around four months to revive the confidence of bureaucrats in the Telecom Ministry which was hit by the 2G scam during the UPA government. This government has no trace of corruption. The lobbies in the corridors of power are free from agents. Whatever is doable is being done, whatever is not, will not be done."

Answering a question on the delay in appointing the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), he said that meetings are taking place to complete the appointment at the earliest.

Commenting on the allegations that right wing politics is interfering in education system, he said, "Should we allow only Maoist ideology or Naxal ideology or Left wing ideology to grow? Allegations of right wing growing are not correct. The government is neutral and secular."

Talking about Digital India he said, "In the coming years want to connect village panchayats with broadband connectivity. We will develop rural call centres. The rural BPO call centres with government subsidy will bring a change in the entire ecosystem. Our emphasis is on manufacturing electronic clusters."

India has emerged as a country of compassion, he claimed while citing the example of India’s work done in Nepal and Maldives when these countries faced crisis.

He said that the Modi government was based on good governance. He also said that inflation is under check and the investment is also coming into India. He explained how tour and travel is mostly done using e-ticketing. He also promised to turn state run BSNL profitable.