"Offering options is not a U-turn"

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says the Modi 3.0 government has done a lot of work during the first 100 days of its term, with a focus on employment, employability, and skills

- Nirmala Sitharaman

The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government recently completed 100 days of its third term. In contrast to the earlier two terms that were marked by big steps such as OROP and the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, the changes have been mostly about tweaking and finetuning policy this time around.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks to Anjana Om Kashyap, Managing Editor-Special Projects, Aaj Tak, on a host of issues. Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, in an interaction with Rahul Kanwal, News Director of India Today and Aaj Tak and Executive Director of Business Today, speaks about the defining ideas of Modi 3.0, among other things. Edited excerpts:

ANJANA OM KASHYAP: During the early days of Modi 1.0, you took decisive steps like OROP (One Rank One Pension). In the first 100 days of Modi 2.0, you not only addressed triple talaq, but also abrogated Article 370 and 35A of the Constitution. What are the decisive steps you took in the first 100 days of Modi 3.0?

A: A lot of work was done in these 100 days. If you look at the data, we have approved proposals worth ₹15 lakh crore, and ₹3 lakh crore of that is specifically for infrastructure. For example, take the Vadhavan port project worth ₹76,000 crore, which will be one of the Top 10 ports in the world.