Narendra Modi makes power-ful promise

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 52nd annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Tuesday. He also claimed that by next year, there will be no village left without electricity in India, which would be a year ahead of the government's own target for achieving this milestone.

The Modi-led NDA government came to power with a number of promises, including providing the entire country with electricity, on May 26, 2014. In mid-2014, more than 18,000 villages had no electricity. That number has reduced over the last three years and there are now only 4,000 villages without electricity left in the country.

"Our aim is that India must be an engine of growth as well as an example for climate-friendly development in the years to come," the PM said in his inaugural speech.

Modi also highlighted the achievements of the NDA government's three years in power. "In the last three years, there have been improvements on all macro-economic indicators. The fiscal deficit, balance of payments deficit, and inflation are down. The GDP growth rate, foreign exchange reserves and public capital investment are up. At the same time, we have made big strides in development," he said.

The PM emphasised how the Direct Benfit Transfer scheme has saved the government from revenue being wrongly diverted.