Prime minister Narendra Modi has said that everything the country have must be world class as the India of the 21st century cannot stay behind when it comes to technology and infrastructure.

Addressing Indian diaspora at a stadium in South Holland’S capital the Hague, Prime minister stressed on larger community participation in development. Mr Modi said, India will have to be modernised at a greater speed.

Addressing the diaspora the Prime Minister announced that five years business visa will soon be granted to the dutch nationals.

Mr. Modi appealed all Indian origin people in Netherlands to apply for their Overseas Citizens of India, OCI, cards at earliest.

Mr Modi praised the Sarnami Indians for maintaining Indianness despite being outside India for around 150 years. He said, despite migrating as labourers to American country of Surinam & then to Netherlands, the Sarnami community has maintained Indian language, culture and traditions.

Emphasizing that relations of blood do not change with change in colour of passport, he said, Indian diaspora across world has feeling of an obligation towards India.

The prime minister Citing the contribution of India’s women across all fields, the prime minister said his government aims at the women-led development.

He said, his government’s thrust has been on jan bhagidari (people’s involvement) in governance as he believed that the country’s progress cannot be ensured only through the government’s work.

He mentioned about various initiatives taken by his government in the sectors like banking, energy and digitalisation and talked about progress being made in areas like space, healthcare and sanitation.

Later, The Prime Minister left for home after concluding his three-nation tour of Portugal, the United States and the Netherlands.