Time has come for total transformation: Modi

New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that time had come for a "total transformation" where fruits of development must reach "each and every citizen".

in his address at the India Today Conclave here, Modi said that while 2014 to 2019 was the time to look at necessities and provide basic needs to every household, the journey from 2019 onwards would be for fulfilling aspirations and realising new dreams.

"From 2014 to 2019 was the time to lift (the nation) from a state of hopelessness to the high of hope, from 2019 onwards will be the journey towards greater achievements.

"We have read in the books that the 21st century would be India's century. In the last five years, through sheer hard work, we have laid a solid foundation on which a majestic building would be erected. So I say with confidence that 21st century would indeed be India's century," Modi said.

He also targeted the Congress for promoting a culture of "doles and deals" while it was in the government.

"Let me ask those who were in power for so long as to why so many scams in the defence sector happened during their rule. Who is every deal maker, every middleman close to, the entire nation knows and the Lutyen's Delhi surely knows," Modi said.

He said that his government got "the corridors of power free of middlemen".

Taking a potshot at the farm loan waiver scheme by newly-elected Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Modi said that "no policy expert or economist" would say that waiving farmers' loan would solve country's agrarian crisis.

"These doles were not aimed at empowering the poor. The best example of this is farm loan waiver. Every 10 years, the UPA government came up with a farm loan waiver idea. They did nothing in their entire tenure but came up with a waiver at the 11th hour. They loved to fight elections on loan waivers. But we have taken a different approach," he said.