President's Joint Address To Parliament After Elections: Top 10 Quotes

In his first address to the parliament after the national elections, President Ram Nath Kovind today congratulated the Election Commission "for successful completion of the world's largest election".

"I am pleased to address the first joint sitting of Parliament after the election of the 17th Lok Sabha, in the year commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. I extend my heartiest congratulations to all newly elected Members of this Lok Sabha," President Kovind said as he began his address.

More than 61 crore voters of the country "set a new record by casting their votes and enhanced the credibility of India's democracy in the world," he added. In his address, he touched on various issues including economy, illegal immigration and triple talaq.

Here are the top quotes from President Ram Nath Kovind's address to parliament.

• "India is now on the way to become the world's 5th largest economy in terms of GDP. To maintain the high growth rate, reform process will continue. It is our objective to make India a 5-trillion dollar economy by 2024."
• "Removing practices like triple talaq and "nikah halala" essential to give equality to women."
• "The mandate of the election asserts that the people of the country want unhindered and fast progress. They aspire the country to move forward at a fast pace, and hence the 2019 election result gave an even higher majority to the single-largest party compared to 2014."
• "By carrying out surgical strikes and air strikes, India has displayed its prowess. In future too, we will take all possible steps for the country's security."
• "World stands with India on the issue of terrorism, UN's blacklisting of Masood Azhar is proof."
• "The facility of 'One Nation, One Card' has been launched to realize the dream of seamless mobility."
• "The 'Fugitive and Economic Offenders Act' has proved effective in controlling fugitive economic offenders. Now we are receiving information in this regard from 146 countries, including Switzerland."
• "In 'Ease of Doing Business', India has leap-frogged 65 positions during the past 5 years, from a ranking of 142 in 2014 to 77. Now our goal is to be among the top 50 countries of the world."
• "My Government is striving to increase the number of seats in the country's Higher Education System by one-and-a-half times by 2024. With this initiative, 2 crore additional seats would be available for the youth in higher education institutions."
• "Today India has joined the league of countries with most number of start-ups in the world. To improve the start-up ecosystem, the Government is simplifying the rules. Our goal is to establish 50,000 start-ups in the country by 2024."