India Poised to Become the World’s Third-Largest Economy: Union Minister Prahlad Joshi

India Poised to Become the World’s Third-Largest Economy: Union Minister Prahlad Joshi

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, March 15, 2025: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi stated that India, which had a weak economic system before 2014, has now emerged as the fifth-largest economy in the world. He expressed confidence that India will soon become the third-largest global economic power.

The Minister made these remarks on Saturday during a visit to the BJP district office in Udupi, where he interacted with party leaders, office bearers, representatives, and workers.

He highlighted the government’s initiative to identify 500 companies across the country to provide training programs for youth. “The government and these companies will offer stipends to the youth, enabling India to prepare resources to meet global demands,” he added.

Responding to press queries about the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to remove the ₹ symbol from its 2025-26 Budget documents, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi criticized the move, calling it politically motivated. He noted that the rupee symbol was adopted during the UPA regime when P. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister and A. Raja and Dayanidhi Maran were Union Ministers. The design was created by the son of a former DMK MLA.

“Neither the DMK nor the BJP opposed the symbol back then. Why the opposition now? Both the DMK and Congress must clarify their stance,” Mr. Joshi emphasized, describing the DMK government’s decision as "unfortunate" and accusing the Congress and its INDI Alliance partners of engaging in “low-level politics.”

On the issue of language, Mr. Joshi stated that the three-language formula has been in place since Jawaharlal Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister, and denied allegations that the Union government was imposing Hindi through the revised National Education Policy (NEP). “The Congress and its allies are misleading people with their interpretation of the NEP,” he said.

When asked about internal differences among BJP leaders in Karnataka, Mr. Joshi said the party high command would address the matter.

Seeks CBI Probe into Gold Smuggling Case
Mr. Joshi also demanded that the Karnataka government transfer the investigation into the gold smuggling case involving Ranya Rao to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He alleged that the State police merely provided an escort to the accused at Bengaluru airport, questioning the Karnataka government’s silence on the issue. “It was the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) that detected the smuggling. What was your intelligence doing?” he asked, criticizing the State government’s intelligence wing for its lack of action.

The event was attended by MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLAs Gurme Suresh Shetty, Kiran Kodgi, and Yashpal Suvarna, Udupi Municipal Council President Prabhakar Poojary, former MLA Lalaji R. Mendon, and party leader Uday Kumar Shetty.

The Minister was honored on the occasion. BJP District President Kishore Kumar Kundapur delivered the inaugural address, General Secretary Dinakar Shetty Herg welcomed the gathering, and Reshma Uday Shetty compered the program.