'Hawai Chappal Se Hawai Jahaj Is Modi's Mantra For Aviation Sector': Ram Mohan Naidu at IES

New Delhi: At India Economic Summit 2024, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu highlighted remarkable growth of India's aviation sector over past dece, attributing success largely to leership and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

"In 2014, India h 74 airports. Today, just ten years later, country boasts 157 airports, a massive achievement that has been mirrored by a surge in passenger traffic. While India saw around 10 crore passengers annually a dece ago, number has now more than doubled to over 20 crore. country's aircraft fleet has also expanded from 400 in 2014 to more than 800, furr cementing India's growth in aviation sector. No or country in world has seen this much growth in civil aviation. It has been a passionately driven success by Prime Minister, and we take immense pride in this accomplishment", Naidu proudly stated.

However, Naidu noted that while significant progress has been me, re is still much more to be achieved. " foundation has been laid, and we believe re is a lot more that we can do," he ded.

Towards Becoming a Global Aviation Hub

Looking ahe, Naidu outlined India's aspirations to become a global aviation hub. He discussed government's vision to create mega airports and highlighted importance of forward planning for sector’s future. In dition, he pointed out government's focus on establishing a supportive environment for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services, aircraft leasing, and indigenous aircraft manufacturing.

Affordable Air Travel - Hawai Chappal Sey Hawai Jahaj Ka Safar

On question of why India doesn’t yet have a global airline brand like Emirates or Etih, Naidu explained current focus of India’s aviation sector. He quoted Prime Minister Modi’s vision: "Hawai Chappal Sey Hawai Jahaj Ka Safar" (Journey from flip-flops to airplanes). According to Naidu, key to India’s aviation growth is making air travel affordable for all segments of society. "Emirates is not model we are following. We want to create an environment where even person wearing Hawai Chappal can afford to fly," he said, highlighting goal of making flights accessible to everyone.

'I am an Outlier'

Talking about his struggle and how he came into politics, Ram Mohan Naidu said," I was always with idea that politics is not my cup of tea. Though my far comes from a very strong political legacy. But for some reason, since growing up days, it was always like politics is just up to him and I would do something of my own, probably some kind of business or something. But very unfortunate that I h to lose him at a very young age in an unfortunate ro accident. And n destiny has brought me back to politics. And I was faced with that question at time when I lost my far and re was an opportunity in front of me. Will I be continuing his legacy or not? And at that time it was a split decision that I have taken that being an educated man, this is what you want to see in country. This is what people expect to see, change in politics where y want young people to come in. No matter if I say that it's a destiny-driven decision, I would say it is a calculated decision in sense that I wanted to bring about change where youth also can feel that this is an area where y can come in,  where y can perform, where y can feel purpose and y can feel that this is an area which is related to us also. And it was that small commitment that I h at that time, that small change that I wanted to believe in. It is with that belief that I came in and rest is history. You are seeing me as youngest cabinet minister in country.

He ded, “Young in politics is probably 40-50 also people who are considering it to be young. Now being 36, I kind of am an outlier.”

Do Bureaucrats Take Him Seriously?

When asked do bureaucrats really take him seriously?  Naidu said," Oh yes, y do. y definitely do. That much I can vouch for because y respect position that I am in. Irrespective of age, let it be bureaucrats that are around me or let it be or ministers also who are around me, who have been seeing me for last 10 years at least. y understand position that we are in right now. And y definitely respect me and y definitely give value to choices that I make or decisions that I make.  So, I think Indian political system respects positions more than age. It's just that re is little opportunity for people my age to come to se positions at a very young age."