Modi addresses the US – India summit: COVID impacted many things but not India’s aspirations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the US – India Strategic Partnership Forum on Thursday stated that India was one of the first nations taking actions to combat the virus. Modi also mentioned that India is at the forefront in terms of developing a vaccine against Coronavirus. In the same context, he added that India has the second highest manufacturing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

“India was among the first in creating a responsive system of lockdowns among the first to advocate the use of masks and face covering as public health measure.” the PM said. He also spoke that India was among the earliest to create public awareness campaigns about social distancing.

Modi said that Covid-19 pandemic is testing resilience, public health and economic systems and the present situation demands having a fresh mindset where the approach to development is human centric. He also spoke about India having one of the lowest death rates as per million globally and the recovery rate is rising steadily.

“The pandemic has impacted several things but it has not impacted the aspirations and ambitions of 1.3 billion Indians.”
The five-day summit began on August 31 with the theme “US – India Navigating New Challenges”.