Modi on selfreliant India
segments of society — the poor, the middle class, women, young, entrepreneurs, labour; and in all regions — from Kashmir to the North-east, from urban to rural areas.
In the backdrop of Chinese aggression at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and his past references to Chinese behaviour as “expansionist”, the PM also framed India’s freedom struggle as one against an “expansionist mindset”, which had devastated the world. In what could be seen as an attempt to weave the past and the present, the PM said history was witness to how India had posed a challenge to this expansionism, resisting all attempts to crush its spirit.
The PM also reiterated India’s united resolve to defend its sovereignty. He paid tributes to security personnel who lost their lives and said those who had sought to challenge India at either the LAC or Line of Control got a response in the language they understood. Modi promised a new cyber security policy, a more self-reliant defence framework, continued upgrade of border infrastructure, an expansion of the National Cadet Corps to include young men and women from both border and coastal areas, and emphasised the importance of India’s ties with both the immediate and extended neighbourhood.
In his address, the PM acknowledged the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic on society, economy and everyday life. He praised citizens for battling it and spoke of India’s successful efforts to increase testing, and produce and even export masks, personal protective equipment and ventilators; declared that the country has a plan for the rapid production and dissemination of the vaccine once it is ready; and announced a national digital health mission where every Indian will have a health identity card.
Focusing specifically on digital connectivity, the PM mentioned how from just five dozen gram panchayats being connected before 2014, 150,000 panchayats were now connected with optical fibre cable, and another 100,000 would soon be connected. In the changed circumstances, given the accelerated push towards digital after the pandemic, the PM said, that all of India’s over 600,000 villages would now be connected with optical fibre cable within 1,000 days.
Among contentious domestic issues, the PM spoke of Kashmir — of what he saw as achievements of the past year, praised elected local representatives and committed to elections after the process of delimitation — and Ayodhya, where he appreciated the peaceful resolution of the issue and restraint showed by citizens.
The PM’S speech — his seventh consecutive address from the Red Fort — was criticised by the Opposition. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in a statement on Saturday, said the government is “standing contrary to the country’s democratic structure, constitutional values and established traditions”.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee too said people must do all it takes to preserve the basic principles on which the country was founded. “We salute all those who sacrificed their lives to make the dream of a ‘free nation’ come true. Our freedom was hardearned, and we must do all it takes to preserve the basic principles on which this country was founded,” she tweeted.
On infrastructure, PM Modi referred to the ₹110 lakh crore investment announced for the National Infrastructure Pipeline Project and said that 7,000 projects had already been identified. “In a crisis, investing in infrastructure boost employment and benefits many new sectors.”
On agriculture, the PM said that farmers have now been freed of all restrictions with the changes in the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee mechanism. “If you make clothes or soap, you can sell it anywhere. But a farmer could not sell his produce anywhere, it was within a restricted framework. He can, now, breathe an air of freedom and sell his produce anywhere at the best price.”
On manufacturing and trade, the PM spoke of India’s tremendous natural and human resources, and underlined the need to add value to it. “How long will we keep selling raw materials and buying finished products? How long will this game continue?”, he asked. It was time to reduce imports, enhance India’s own products, go vocal for local, innovate, and not just “make in India” but “make for the world”, the PM said.
On environment, the PM spoke of making the new union territory of Ladakh a carbon-neutral zone, with a 7500 MW solar power plant. The PM also spoke, in detail, about battling pollution — a key environmental and public health crisis -- and announced an holistic, integrated, participatory and technology-based approach to tackle pollution in 100 selected cities of the country.
On education, the PM referred to the new National Education Policy as a framework that would make Indian students both rooted in their own setting as well as equipped to become global citizens.