India a free society, successfully lifting millions out of poverty, Donald Trump tells UN

Source-indianexpress.com

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday heaped praise on India’s efforts to lift millions of its citizens from the clutches of poverty. “There is India, a free society (of) over a billion people, successfully lifting countless millions out of poverty and into the middle class,” Trump said while addressing world leaders at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

His remarks come nearly a week after the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index has revealed that India has made giant strides in reducing multidimensional poverty, bringing down its poverty rate from 55 per cent to 28 per cent in ten years. According to estimates released by the UN Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, more than 271 million people have come out of poverty in India between 2005-06 and 2015-16.

In his about 35-minute address, he said over the years, history has transpired in the halls of the UN General Assembly. “We think of the many before us who have come here to address the challenges of their nations and of their times and our thoughts turn to the same question that ran through all their speeches, resolutions and through every word and every hope.”

“It is the question of what kind of world will we leave for our children and what kind of nations they will inherit,” Trump said.

Trump also mentioned Saudi Arabia’s bold new reforms and Israel “proudly celebrating” its 70th anniversary as a thriving democracy in the Holy Land.