Kolkata, Jun 29 (UNI) President Pranab Mukherjee today said major changes have happened in India during 2017 like, budget session has been advanced to the first day of February and the first combined budget of independent India that included Railways was presented in Parliament. ' Secondly, the thought of change of fiscal year from April1 to March-end to January-December has been floated and thirdly the process of making India come under one taxation system from July 1, 2017, i.e., GST are really appreciable measures taken up by the Union Government, ' the President opined while speaking at the inaugural session of the global summit on ‘Academics & Economic Reforms-Role of Cost and Management Accountants’, organised by the Institute of Cost Accountants of India here. He even reminisced on the Constitution Amendment Bill of 2011 which facilitated GST though it was not introduced at that time. At that time he was the Finance Minister of India. The President said, ' India is a diverse country with the population of 1.3 billion and people speaking around 200 languages, the country having 1800 dialects, practising seven major religions and belonging to three major ethnic groups yet remaining under one system, one flag and one Constitution. ' He said, ' This is the ethos of India. We must have change. We must move forward as a whole and not in isolation. ' The President even emphasized on the need for providing quality education and reviving the glory of higher educational system prevalent in ancient India nearly 1500 years ago when Universities like Nalanda, Taxila (Takshashila) etc attracted mighty minds in the form of students and teachers. He said, ' India has achieved considerable economic success since it is freed from the colonial rule in 1947. The average decadal growth rate has gone up from 3.9 per cent in the first three decades in post independence era to 7.7 per cent in the first decade of the 21st century. And in this way India today occupies a praiseworthy position of being one of the fastest growing economies in the world. ' At the same time, Mr Mukherjee opined that education is the alchemy now and sustained policies on the same has helped India to attain this position. The other dignitaries who spoke on the occasion included Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal. Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathy also participated in the summit. UNI SJC KK