Comments
In his first customary Independence Day address as Prime Minister for the second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government took path breaking decisions within ten weeks.
“This includes decisions for Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, the end of Triple Talaq, steps for the welfare of farmers and traders,” Modi said.
He said his government does not believe in creating problems or prolonging them. “In less than 70 days of the new Government, Article 370 has become history, and in both Houses of Parliament two-thirds of the members supported this step,” he said.
Maintaining that the Centre wants to serve Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, he said the spirit of ‘One Nation, One Constitution’ has become a reality and the country is proud of that.
Attacking the Opposition, he said the country is asking those who supported Article 370 that if this was so important and life changing, why was this Article not made permanent. “After all, those people had large mandates and could have removed the temporary status of Article 370,” he said.
He said the old arrangement in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh encouraged corruption, nepotism but there was injustice when it came to rights of women, children, Dalits, tribal communities. “The dreams of sanitation workers were incomplete. How can we accept such a situation,” he added.
PTI adds:
PM Modi announced that the government will launch a ' al Jeevan ' Mission to bring piped water to households. “I want to announce from the Red Fort that we will move forward with Jal Jeevan Mission. The Centre and states will work towards it and in coming years, more than Rs 3.5 lakh crore will be spent,” he said.
Modi said for water conservation, efforts need to quadruple in the next five years as to what was done in the last seven decades.
He also made a fresh pitch for holding Lok Sabha and assembly polls together, saying the concept of ‘One Nation, One Election’ is needed to make the country great. The Centre has been toying with the idea for quite some time now.
Last August, the Law Commission had recommended holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to save public money. The draft, submitted to the Law Ministry, cautioned that “holding simultaneous elections is not possible within the existing framework of the Constitution“.
Modi had called for widespread debate and consultations on simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies in an address to a Niti Aayog meeting in June.
PM Modi said the time has come to boost exports and that each district of India has much to offer. “Let us make local products attractive. May more export hubs emerge. Our guiding principle is 'Zero Defect, Zero Effect',” he said.
He said the the world is eager to explore trade with India and the government was working to keep prices under check and increase development. “The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” he said. He also said that there is a huge scope to improve the nation's tourism sector.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.