Bhubaneswar, May 27 (IANS) Dr. Rajni Kant, a renowned Geographical Indication (GI) expert who was conferred the Padma Shri in 2019, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “transparent” working style.

Dr. Kant is widely known as the ‘GI Man of India’ for his instrumental role in securing GI certification for hundreds of indigenous and traditional Indian products.

Speaking to IANS, the Padma Shri awardee said: “I am a very simple social worker and have spent 35 years of my life working in society. I had never even imagined receiving a Padma Award.”

He thanked PM Modi and the Central government for bestowing such a recognition on small social workers like him.

“Such a recognition gives a message to the country that the government works with transparency for the society’s benefit,” he said.

Dr. Kant reiterated that the Prime Minister’s style of working is “based on transparency”.

“He (PM Modi) first trained his team to focus on development schemes such as ‘Ujjwala Yojana’, opening ‘Jan Dhan’ bank accounts for the poor, ensuring banking access to every household, promoting clean energy initiatives, and more recently focusing on solar energy. Now we have even entered the era of Artificial Intelligence,” he said.

The Padma Shri awardee praised Prime Minister Modi for being “highly visionary”.

“He (PM Modi) anticipates future needs and works accordingly,” Dr. Kant asserted.

He said that today India’s digitisation is being accepted by the world.

Highlighting the Centre’s approach for the North east, Dr. Kant said: “PM Modi keeps saying “look East”. I feel that apart from Odisha, the change that has come in West Bengal is ‘Sanatan Kranti’. Bengal, Odisha and all the north-eastern states are going to set an example and become a role model in the coming times.”

The Padma Shri awardee added that after 2014–15, and especially after 2016, the vision of the Prime Minister spread across the world.

“NRIs and world leaders got to know about the pace of India’s progress.”

Dr. Kant also said: “PM Modi has told NRIs that whichever country they reside in, they should work upholding that nation’s policy but keep India alive in their hearts.”

“Today Indians are respected worldwide, and moreover our ‘Namaste’ culture is being adopted by other countries. This is a proud thing for us,” he emphasised.

–IANS

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