I-Day 2023: PM greets people, hoists flag, delivers speech

PM at Rajghat followed by Red Fort

Earlier, the prime minister paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. He then went towards the Red Fort, from where the prime minister  addressed the nation after unfurling the National flag.

“Best wishes on Independence Day. We pay homage to our great freedom fighters and reaffirm our commitment to fulfilling their vision. Jai Hind!,” Modi wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

आप सभी को स्वतंत्रता दिवस की अनेकानेक शुभकामनाएं। आइए, इस ऐतिहासिक अवसर पर अमृतकाल में विकसित भारत के संकल्प को और सशक्त बनाएं। जय हिंद!

Best wishes on Independence Day. We pay homage to our great freedom fighters and reaffirm our commitment to fulfilling their vision. Jai Hind!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 15, 2023

Meanwhile, union home minister Amit Shah along with other ministers arrived at the Red Fort to attend Independence Day celebrations.

PM Modi hoisted Tricolour at Red Fort

On his arrival at the Red Fort, the PM was welcomed by defence minister Rajnath Singh and minister of state for defence Ajay Bhatt. 

PM Modi hoisted the National flag and inspected the tri-services guard of honour. 

Country is with the people of Manipur: PM

In his address to the nation on Independence Day, prime minister Narendra Modi said that the country is with the people of Manipur and peace will be achieved in the violence-hit northeastern state via dialogue.

Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi said that despite the continued violence, news of peace is coming continuously from the state.

He also reiterated that there was a need to find solutions to ensure long-lasting peace.

“Together, the state and the central government are trying hard to solve those problems and will continue to do so,” he added.

India is confident nation: PM

The PM further said that India has emerged as a confident nation in the last 10 years, and now even at the international level, it is known as the voice of the global South and a critical part of global supply chains. 

Modi, with his eyes firmly focused on the slew of assembly elections in the next few months as well as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, said that he was giving a report card of the last 10 years under the shadow of the Tricolour.

“We have left behind an old school of thought and whatever projects I am inaugurating today were conceptualised in the last 10 years. We work on the principle of ‘Sarvajan Hitay Sarvajan Sukhay’. We have fulfilled all our targets, whether it is providing toilets to rural women, opening bank accounts for the poor, providing cheaper housing loans for urban poor, the fastest rollout of 5G, and even building a new Parliament."

“This is a new and confident India, which never loses, tires or stops,” Modi said.

"Today," he added, "our frontiers are now more secure, as we are making our defence forces more battle ready and therefore we are working on defence sector reforms."

“Terror attacks are now a thing of the past, and such incidents have considerably come down.”

The PM went on to say that “in 2014, we were placed 10th economy-wise, now we are the fifth largest economy due to people’s efforts”.

“There was a time, when scams and corruption prevailed and India was counted among the fragile five. We strengthened the economy and focussed on the poor’s welfare, and when nation is strong economically, then hearts are filled with confidence.

“Human sensibilities need to be at the centre of all solutions, and this is what the Covid-19 pandemic taught us. Today India is a confident nation, there are no ifs and buts in the hearts of our people. The ball is in our court, don’t let this opportunity go.

“We have the capability to understand situations and that’s why in 2014, people after 30 years decided to bring a stable and strong government, which brought to an end a period of political indecisiveness, instability and of weak governments,” Modi added.

Reform, perform and transform

“Hearts of people are connected with the thought of nation first, which is going to result in positive initiations. It is you who formed the governments in 2014 and 2019 and this is what gave Modi confidence to launch reforms and perform. With people’s participation, things are being transformed, reforms are launched and transformation is taking place. Reform, perform and transform is the new motto to take the nation forward.

“We formed the jal shakti ministry, which is providing water to each and every household of the country. Holistic healthcare is today’s demand, so we formed the ayush ministry. Fishing sector’s development is in our hearts, so we formed a separate ministry for it too. To support and strengthen the cooperative sectors, we also formed the cooperation ministry,” he added.

PM on corruption

Launching a scathing attack on the opposition parties, PM said that in order to make India a developed nation by 2047, the three ills of corruption, dynasty politics and appeasement need to be abolished from the system.

“When I came to you in 2014, I promised you a performance based government. In 2019, performance brought me back, and the next 25 years is a period of fulfilling the dreams of a developed nation. So next year on Independence Day, I will lay down before you the roadmap for a developed nation, as I live and dream for you, as I have come from among you all. I cannot see your dreams remaining unfulfilled, as I strive to work for you as a worker and as your companion,” he said.

Emphasising on the need to abolish corruption, he said, “It is important to instil in ourselves a feeling of hatred towards corruption, just like we have for garbage. We need to root out it from our system,” PM Modi said.

He added that he will keep fighting against corruption as it is the biggest enemy of development.

Centre to launch Vishwakarma Yojana, provide 15K drones to SHGs

PM Narendra Modi announced that during the upcoming Vishwakarma Diwas, the Centre will launch “Vishwakarma Yojana” where all the artisans and skilled workers, who mostly belong to the other backward caste (OBC) community, would be given benefits worth Rs 15,000 crore.

He also informed that to support the agri-tech sector and strengthen women self help groups (SHGs), around 15,000 drones would be provided to them and for this purpose, training will be imparted to such groups.

Modi said that these schemes are in line with several initiatives of the government like Jan Dhan Yojana, PM SvaNidhi scheme, and Ujjwala scheme, among others.

Will strive to completely curb inflation

“Despite the world still struggling to recover from the ill effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which led to inflation, the centre has tried to keep people of India insulated from it and will try to curb it completely,” said the PM.

“The world is still recovering from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to high inflation. However we have tried to control price rise and will strive to completely finish inflation,” Modi said.

He said that due to supply chain disruptions, several critical goods had to be imported, which were costly.

“Unfortunately in the process, we also imported some inflation. We have tried to control it, but want to abolish it completely. I will strive to finish it,” Modi added.

“India has all the three factors, democracy, demography and diversity, which have the potential to realise the dreams of the country.”

He said the youth from small cities are also making a lot of impact in various fields.

“I believe in yuva shakti. The country’s youth has got India in the world’s first three startup ecosystems,” Modi noted.

He further added that India’s biggest capability is trust in the government, in the country’s bright future and the world's trust in India.

Modi gave his personal guarantee that India will become the third largest global economy in the next five years.

PM Modi praises SC for delivering judgments in regional languages

“We have emphasised in the direction that the students can study in their mother languages,” he said underlining the importance of the regional languages.

“I even want to thank the Supreme Court for deciding that now the operative part of its judgments will be available in one’s mother tongue. The significance of regional languages is increasing,” the PM said.

The translated versions of judgments were made available in 13 Indian languages, i.e., Assamese, Garo, Hindi, Kannada, Khasi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu at the e-SCR portal.

The portal is the repository of the electronic version of Supreme Court Reports (SCR), the official publication of the SC.

The apex court in 2019 launched a neural translation tool called SUVAS (Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software), a machine learning based software for translating judgments into vernacular languages.

PM Modi engages with students, NCC cadets 

In a cheerful context, PM Modi greeted and interacted with school children and National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets, representing the army, navy, and air force branches from various schools nationwide.

A notable gathering of 1,100 male and female NCC cadets congregated for this special event. 

As Modi’s speech came to an end, the NCC cadets sang the National anthem, a fitting conclusion to the occasion.

About PM’s fashion this year

PM Modi consistently wears traditional attire during National celebrations. Displaying enthusiasm and patriotic hues he opted to showcase one with a yellow tone. .

He opted for a classic cream-coloured kurta and churidar, paired with a jacket featuring intricate chain-like patterns, and a safa (headgear) with stripes and a long trail.

Source: IANS

-Edited for style

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