New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on the occasion of India’s 72nd Independence Day. Speaking from the ramparts of Red Fort, PM Modi touched on a range of issues including the performance of his government and its welfare schemes. He also announced the Jan Aarogya Abhiyan, a healthcare insurance programme that seeks to touch the lives of 50 crore individuals and ‘Gaganyan’ a manned mission to space by 2022.
Here are the top five quotes from PM Modi's Independence Day address:
Jan Aarogya Abhiyan
PM Modi announced that India’s mega health scheme Ayushman Bharat, now repackaged as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan, will be rolled out on September 25, the birth anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyaya. “The scheme will provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per year to 50 crore individuals across income groups. However wealthy the family may be, a perennial illness dents financial stability of the family forever. In order to prevent that from happening, we will be holding experiments in this sector for the next 6-7 weeks after which we will officially roll out the scheme,” said Modi.
Manned Mission to Space
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his Independence Day speech that India will send a manned mission to space by 2022 aboard a Gaganyaan. Modi also prauised the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launching 100 satellites in one go and making the country proud. "In 2022, when we will celebrate 75th year of Independence, we are dedicated to send people of the country to space .We will launch Gaganyan... we will become the 4th country in the world to take people to space," PM Modi said.
“Sleeping Elephant Has Woken Up”
Talking about the state of the economy, PM Modi said India will be the engine of growth for the world economy for the next three decades as the "sleeping elephant" has started to run on the back of structural reforms like GST. He listed out the pace of reforms in the last four years of his government that pulled out the country from being considered a “fragile and risky” economy to being the fastest in the world.
“Taxpayers Have Doubled Since 2013”
PM Narendra Modi also hailed the efforts made to alleviate poverty and threw light on the increase in tax collections over the last three years. "Taxpayers have almost doubled as compared to 2013. In 2013, there were 3 crore taxpayers and now there are close to 7.25 people paying direct taxes… There is no broker in the power corridors of Delhi now. Three lakh shell companies have been shut down,” he said.
Outreach to Minorities
PM Modi also launched an attack on the opposition for “stalling” the triple talaq bill in Parliament, but said that would “continue to fight for the rights of Muslim women.” He assured "Muslim sisters and daughters" that their rights would be protected and said the government would not leave any effort to protect them. He added that his government was committed to the bill against Triple Talaq.