PM Narendra Modi said that India's digital technology-driven Covid-19 vaccination program has received worldwide praise.
New Delhi: Taking a jibe at his critics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that while the whole world was discussing that India is giving immediate certificates to its citizens after vaccination against Covid-19, some people only say these things. Why were their photographs on the certificates? In his address after inaugurating the 'Digital India Week 2022' here, the Prime Minister also criticized former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram, without naming him, who had opposed online payment methods like UPI in Parliament.
PM Modi said, 'The capacity that the Digital India program has created in the country in the last eight years has helped us a lot during the Kovid-19 epidemic. Due to this, we were able to run the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination and relief campaign. He said, “We transferred crores of rupees to the bank accounts of women, farmers, workers during the pandemic. With the help of 'One Nation One Ration Card', we have ensured that 80 crore population of the country gets free ration."
India's vaccination program received worldwide praise
PM Modi said that India's digital technology-driven Covid-19 vaccination program has received worldwide praise. He said, “The world was overwhelmed by the records made by each dose of vaccine to such a large population. In other countries, people had problems getting certificates of vaccines. But in India, when a person took a dose, he got the certificate immediately on his mobile phone."
'Some people's attention was on Modi's picture on certificates'
The Prime Minister said, “The world is talking about how we have succeeded in providing COVID-19 vaccination certificates to people as soon as they are vaccinated, but here (in India) the focus of some people was only on this. Why is there Modi's picture on these certificates? Many criticized the BJP-led NDA government over the picture of the Prime Minister on the Kovid-19 certificates. Memes and jokes were also seen on social media about this. In the Kerala High Court, a petition was filed, questioning the presence of the Prime Minister's picture in the certificates. Perhaps for the first time, PM Modi has said something on the subject of the picture on the vaccine certificates.
Chidambaram surrounded by UPI
Referring to the popularity of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), he said that it was quite successful among the people. He said, “Earlier some of the big stores had the facility of digital payment by swapping cards. But now I was told that a beggar in Bihar has also taken his QR code and he takes the money digitally.” Recalling his government's opposition to the digital payment system in Parliament, the Prime Minister said in an indirect reference to Chidambaram, "When we introduced this scheme in Parliament, a former finance minister raised many issues. He said that people do not have mobile phones, how will they use it. He is very learned. The problem with more intelligent people is that they tend to analyze too much."