Be extra optimistic of our achievements: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday urged folks to be extra optimistic about India’s achievements, and described the BusinessLine Changemaker Award winners as examples of inspirational work in areas that want pressing consideration.

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“All of us should give ourselves that moment of pause to think about what we are doing for our country. Even If you can’t serve it, at least don’t disserve it. At least don’t spread your toxicity,” mentioned the Minister, who was the chief visitor on the award ceremony.

Also learn | Nirmala Sitharaman’s tackle on the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards

“This is a time when we all want to be positive. We want to engage… look at the excellent work these award winners have done. Are we going to forget them tomorrow and say nothing is happening in this country. It’s all happening. So I take this opportunity to showcase not just the achievements of the country, which are there for all of us to see,” she mentioned.

“Your stories are remarkable and very inspirational and I can see a slant of changemakers focusing largely on agriculture and environmental matters. These are the areas we need remarkable changes,” Ms. Sitharaman mentioned after presenting the awards to winners in six totally different classes.

“The awards are only the first step as they show that solutions are available which need to be encouraged so that they become common place. We need to rapidly change our mindset on how to live, how to consume agriculture products… decades of pesticide usage are showing on our health,” the Minister famous, mooting ample protection for the path-breaking work of the award winners going ahead.

Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications, mentioned the fourth version of the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards meant to recognise “humanly catalysts” who had helped impact dynamic change in our society and economic system.

“These awards are unique as unlike other corporate awards which honour corporate excellence or financial success, these are for the real agents of socioeconomic change, whose work on the ground have a transformative impact on the quality of our lives,” she mentioned.

“This is very much in line with our core values as a media group and we pride ourselves on the fact that we are not linked to any business or corporate interests,” she famous, emphasising that this interprets into genuine and fact-based reporting and credible narratives within the group’s publications.

Lauding Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s dynamism and dedication to the regeneration of the Indian economic system as inspirational, Ms. Parthasarathy mentioned: “Along with the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, it’s to their credit score that India is now ranked because the world’s fifth largest economic system.”