Nirmala Sitharaman delivers Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar's verse as '5 jewels of good country'

New Delhi: After quoting Kashmiri poet Dinanath Kaul Nadim in her speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar as she presented Budget 2020 in Lok Sabha on Saturday (February 1). Sitharaman quoted the Tamil poet on health, wealth, farm productivity, happiness and security as imperatives of a country. She said, "There are 5 jewels for a good country, according to Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, which are: 

No epidemics. 
It should have wealth. 
It should have a good crop. 
It should have happiness. 
It should have security and safety."

Sitharaman then linked the 'five jewels to government reforms such as Ayushman Bharat, wealth creators being respected, PM Kisan doubling income, ease of living, national security while delivering the India budget 2020 speech.

The finance minister has taken three themes for the Union Budget 2020 - aspirational India, economic development and caring society. She started her speech by pointing out that the Indian voters reposed their faith in the Narendra Modi government in the 2029 Lok Sabha election by giving a massive majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

She also paid homage to her former and late colleague Arun Jaitley who had piloted the Goods and Services Tax (GST) during his tenure in the previous regime of Prime Minister Modi. She added that the Modi government believes in and has been working on the motto of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas".