India ready to tackle serious challenges to emerge as a developed country: Mukherjee

New Delhi, Mar 3(ANI): Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday stressed that the country is ready to tackle series serious challenges, including the challenge of rising expectations of a young India, to emerge as a developed country.

Addressing the 64th batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) probationers in the national capital, Mukherjee said: "Today, India is at a stage, where nothing seems impossible to do or achieve. At the same time, there are many serious challenges that confront us, and need to be tackled, if we are to emerge as a developed country, at the other end of current decade."The biggest challenge is the challenge of rising expectations of a young India. It reflects a population that is restless, yet engaged and is ready to seize the opportunities that it is presented with. This is a powerful reason for us to create, facilitate and sustain those opportunities. And for that each one of us in public life has to play our respective role to the best of our abilities," he added.

Mukherjee further said that the Indian growth story that began a decade and a half ago has now ceased being a mere 'miracle' and has subsumed the nation's collective mood and thought.

"The improved opportunities in the employment market, the range and quality of products in the markets the greater ability and willingness to pay taxes, increased research and studies in the areas of price control and risk management, the rising profile of the insurance sector and other services and the growth of new financial instruments, are all evidences of this new positivism," the Finance Minister said.Today's times are also where liberalization, globalization, technological innovation are not mere buzzwords, but real happenings driven by men and market forces that are sometimes not within our personal control."

"The challenge is to analyze these developments scientifically, regulate and guide them where required and ride them progressively keeping the greater good of the greater number in mind," he added. (ANI)