NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, AUG 15
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India must become self-reliant and use its vast natural resources to produce for the domestic as well as the global market.
Addressing the nation from the Red Fort. https://t.co/uHu73fOF17
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 15, 2020
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of India’s 74th Independence Day, Modi said in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, 130 crore Indians have pledged to build a ”Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
“I am confident that India will realise this dream. I am confident of the abilities, confidence, and potential of my fellow Indians. Once we decide to do something, we do not rest till we achieve that goal,” he said.
The prime minister said the country received record foreign direct investments during the last fiscal and even during the coronavirus pandemic, big global companies are looking towards India.
He said the FDI growth was recorded at 18 percent last fiscal.
Modi reiterated in his address ”Vocal for Local” call and said that India should strive for meeting needs of the world as well and wondered how long the country would continue to export raw materials and import finished products.
He said India has vast natural resources and need of the hour was value addition.
“Now we have to move ahead with the mantra of make for the world along with Make-in-India,” he said.
He further said ”Aatmanirbhar Bharat” does not mean only reducing dependence on imports, but strengthening India’s capacity, creativity, and skills.
Addressing for the seventh time in a row from the Red Fort, he said there are numerous challenges in becoming self-reliant, but there are millions of solutions as well.
“India has always believed that the entire world is one family. While we focus on economic growth and development, humanity must retain a central role in this process and our journey,” Modi said.
Citing an example that India can do, Modi said before the COVID-19 pandemic, the country was not making N-95 masks, PPE, and ventilators, but now it is in a position to export such items.
PM @narendramodi inspects Guard of Honour at Red Fort on 74th #IndependenceDay #AatmaNirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/GWJjpyGuKG
— DD News (@DDNewslive) August 15, 2020
‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ has become mantra for everyone: PM
Delivering his seventh straight Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the call for “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) has captured people’s imagination and become a “mantra” for everyone, as he pushed for raising India’s share in the global economy.
For how long India will keep exporting raw materials and import finished products, Modi said in his address to the nation on the occasion of India’s 74th Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort and asked citizens to prepare themselves for a self-reliant India.
PM @narendramodi pays homage to #MahatmaGandhi at Rajghat#IndiaIndependenceDay#IndependenceDay #AatmaNirbharBharat pic.twitter.com/l73GFne2Vl
— DD News (@DDNewslive) August 15, 2020
He also listed out a number of reform measures undertaken by his government which has resulted in a record of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country last year.
The prime minister began his address by paying tributes to freedom fighters and security forces while also remembering Aurobindo Ghose, a freedom fighter and spiritual philosopher whose birth anniversary falls today.
Hailing ”corona warriors”, including doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and sanitation workers who have been continuously fighting the coronavirus pandemic, he said, the country will achieve victory over coronavirus with the resolve of its over 130 crore citizens.
In the midst of coronavirus pandemic, Indians resolve to become self-reliant, the prime minister said, adding this is not a word but mantra for all people.
Speaking of self-reliant India, he said many concerns are raised about it and acknowledged challenges ahead but asserted that there are “crores of solutions” offered by the country’s citizens to “lakhs of challenges”.
Vocal for local should be the mantra of free India, he said.
He said his government has freed farmers of their constraints, and they can now trade their products freely at their terms.
India”s freedom struggle, he said, became a challenge to forces of expansionism while attempts were made for hundreds of years by various rulers to root out India’s culture and traditions.
