External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said wherever an Indian government delegation goes, people talk about India's transformation and how the country is implementing welfare schemes on a grand scale.
The Union minister, on a two-day visit to Gujarat, was speaking to reporters at Vyadhar village in Tilakwada taluka of tribal-dominated Narmada district.
He performed ground-breaking ceremony for two 'smart anganwadi' centres, built with grants under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MP LADS).
The minister, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, said the world has now understood that India is changing because Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes in doing things instead of only delivering speeches.
"Our PM recently visited Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Usually, we talk on issues surrounding world politics and diplomacy during such visits. But now, wherever we go, people of that country start talking about India's transformation. They are curious to know how India is implementing pro-people schemes on a grand level," Mr Jaishankar said when asked about takeaways from the PM's visit.
People outside India are astonished after learning about the scale at which these schemes are being implemented, the minister added.
The number of people covered under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna is twice the population of Europe, he noted.
"Those covered under PM Ujjwala Yojana are more than the population of Germany. We provided three crore houses under different schemes. Let's say there are five members in each family. That means the scheme benefitted nearly 15 crore persons, that is the population of Russia," the external affairs minister said.
The world has now understood that "this government is different and this PM is also different," as PM Modi believes in implementing schemes at the ground level instead of "just dreaming and delivering speeches," he added.
Later, the minister visited Amadla village in Garudeshwar taluka, Bhadod village in Sagbara and Malsamot village in Dediapada taluka of Narmada district to take stock of various developmental works.
S Jaishankar has adopted these villages under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
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