New Delhi, 25 Jan

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is close to reaching saturation in implementing social sector schemes designed to provide basic necessities to the poor. Addressing the students of Hindu College on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, she said the time has come for India to become economically 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) and march forward to become a developed nation by 2047.

Regretting that 60 years since Independence passed without any sense of urgency, Sitharaman said, "we have laid the material foundation for a Viksit Bharat" and empowering people by providing basic necessities to all.

Even earlier government had schemes of providing houses, roads etc but the sense of urgency was missing, she said, adding, nearly 50 per cent of the population were devoid of fundamental things 50 or 60 years post-independence.

"So that's the underlying principle with which between 2014 and today we have done with a sense of urgency. Push the border forward, you take it further. Make sure everybody who's actually eligible to get those should get it...the approach (of the government) is to empower people, skill people, give access and ensure that everyone gets good health treatment and so on," she said.

She also said the government has been able to save Rs 2.5 lakh crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by weeding out dummy and undesirable beneficiaries.

Stressing that the government doesn't differentiate between people, Sitharaman said that is the reason why the prime minister categorises India in four groups--Youth, Women, Farmers and Poor-- and efforts are made for betterment of these groups irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
She also said that India is nearly self-sufficient as far as agriculture is concerned except in oil seeds and pulses.