As India celebrates its 70th Independence Day on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech stresses on self-sufficiency and the common man's progress. Here are the latest updates.
Latest updates:
9.10 a.m.: PM completes his speech with slogans of ' Bharat Mata ki jai', 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Hind.'
9.10 a.m.: "We have decided to raise pensions for freedom fighters by 20 per cent. When we speak of freedom fighters, a few are mentioned far more than others. Our Adivasi brothers fought valiantly largely unsung, many have heard of Birsa Munda but few others. In the next few days, it is our intention to record the history of such Adivasi freedom fighters in the areas of their origin on a museum. One society, one mission, one goal."
9.05 a.m.: "In the last few days the way the people of Balochistan, Gilgit, from Pak occupied Kashmir have thanked me, it is the honour of 1.25 billion people of India. I thank those people from Balochistan, Gilgit and Pak occupied Kashmir."
9 a.m.: "I say to our neighbours, Let's fight poverty, by fighting our own people we will destroy ourselves, only by fighting poverty together will we prosper.
I tell those who believe in human values, to weigh in the scale of humanity, when innocent children were massacred in a school in Peshawar. In India, every school was weeping, there were tears in the eyes of every parliamentarian. That was a reflection of our human value, but look at the other side which glorifies terrorists."
8.55 a.m.: "Unity in diversity is our greatest strength. Our cultural tradition of respect for others, and assimilation is the reason why our civilisation has persisted. There is no space for violence and atrocities in the country. This country will not tolerate terrorism and Maoism." Join the mainstream, PM tells youth who have taken up arms.
8.50 a.m.: "This govt does not believe in postponing things. We have fulfilled our promise of one rank one pension. We have released all files relating to Netaji Subhash Bose. That was another promise we had made."
8.45 a.m.: "Ramanujacharya used to say that we must look at everyone with the same gaze, never humiliate anyone. This was said by Ambedkar, Gandhi too. If society practices this discrimination it will break society. If discrimination is entrenched, our determination to fight it and our sensitivity to fighting it should be that much higher. Just economic progress is not enough, social equity is more important. We have to fight social evils together."
8.35 a.m.: "We will remain relevant and be able to lead the global economy only if we come up to global standards. In the last few days you must have seen how rating agencies have appreciated our moves on ease of doing business."
8.30 a.m.: "When there is clarity in policy, clarity in intent, decisions are unhesitating. Every year, when it came to Uttar Pradesh, a common story was the arrears due to sugarcane farmers. Today, I can say 95 per cent of payments have been done. Under Ujjwala Yojana. we have 50 lakh households of smoke-filled kitchens."
8.30 a.m.: "Government is continuity and if there are good points in the works done by them, we, with bowed heads will continue that work. I take meetings over Pragati systems, where we oversee 118 such programmes launched by previous governments but had run aground. 270 projects worth Rs. 10,000 crore had been stuck. This was criminal negligence and we have tried to move them forward."
8.25 a.m.: "To empty government coffers has been a tradition of past governments, I have tried to keep away from such a temptation. For me more than what the world thinks of the government, what the image of the country is, is important. Substance over symbolism. Empowerment over entitlement.The nation is more important than the party."
8.20 a.m.: "Our scientists have created 171 types of high yielding variety seeds, so that we maximise output. I congratulate them. The shortage of fertiliser is like something out of a bad dream of the past. That shortage is history."
8.15 a.m.: "As we celebrate the 350th anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh ji I remember what he said: "He who hasn't served others, how can his hands be considered holy?" I say our farmers do such work and have sown 1.5 times the pulses that were down earlier, despite the discouragement of successive droughts."
8.13 a.m.: "We haven't allowed inflation to go beyond 6 per cent. There were two years of successive drought in the country. Production of pulses became a concerns, but despite all that we tried our best to control the situation and compared to previous governments, I and my government did not allow the cost of a poor man's thaali (plate) to be unaffordable."
8.11 a.m.: "When things like the coming together of Iran, Afghanistan and India come together for Chabahar port, then one can see the impossible becoming possible."
8.08 a.m.: "Govt has made LED bulbs available at Rs. 50 per bulb, says the Prime Minister."
8.05 a.m.: "Just 3 km from Delhi is a village in Hathras, that took 70 years to get electricity."
8.04 a.m.: "Out of 18,000 villages, more than 10,000 villages have been electrified and I have been told they are with us, watching this celebration of Independence Day."
8.01 a.m.: "We must break through our predilection towards pessimism. If we do that, it gives us energy. To get 21 crore people into the network of institutional credit is one such thing that people thought was impossible. But it happened."
8 a.m.: "Cooking gas was available to 14 crore people in the last 60 years. In the last seven months alone, four crore people got these connections."
7.59 a.m.: "30,000-35,000 km of transmission lines used to be laid in the past. Now at least 50,000 km per day are being laid."
7.58 a.m.: "In the field of solar power we have seen a growth of 116 per cent. It is unprecedented."
7.57 a.m.: "Earlier, 55-77 km of rural roads used to be laid per day. Now we lay upto 100 km of rural roads a day."
7.56 a.m.: "In the the last 70 years people's expectations have changed. Announcement of policies and budget doesn't convince them. We have to show what has been achieved on the ground."
7.55 a.m.: "Interviews for more than 9,000 posts in Group C and D jobs have been abolished."
7.55 a.m.: "In the past any businessman who wanted to invest in this country had to spend more than six months just registering his business. However, with this government we have simplified the procedure to an extent that in last July itself, 900 such registrations have taken place."
7.52 a.m.: "Two crore people apply for passports in the country. Even poor people get passport in one or two weeks."
7.47 a.m.: "Suraaj means the progress of the common man, a govt that is sensitive to the requirements and aspirations of the common man. Responsibility and accountability are to be the roots of such a Suraaj."
7.46 a.m.: "Today I will be speaking not just of policy but vision. Not just the speed of work, but actual experience of progress."
7.45 a.m.: "It is our responsibility to convert our Swaraj into Suraaj, which can not be done without sacrifice, discipline and staunch resolution."
7.44 p.m.: "There was a time when past governments used to be surrounded by doubts, not so anymore. They are now surrounded by aspirations."
7.43 a.m.: "It is true that India faces a lot of problems, but we have the capacity to find solutions."
7.42 a.m.: "We remember Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru, countless people who sacrificed their lives so that we attained Swarajya."
7.41 a.m.: Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his speech.
7.40 a.m.: The country celebrates its 70th Independence Day and here to unfurl the tricolour and speak is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
7.35 a.m.: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his wife, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh are present at the celebrations.
7.30 a.m.: Against the backdrop of attacks on Dalits and minorities, President Pranab Mukherjee in his Independence Day speech on Sunday said these incidents should be dealt with “firmly”, calling the violence against weaker sections that militate against the national ethos as “aberrations.“ >Read our updates
7.25 a.m.: We asked our readers what they wanted the Prime Minister to speak about on this Independence Day. Here are >their responses
7.20 a.m.: Thousands of security personnel, including 5,000 men from Delhi Police, have been deployed to ensure foolproof security in and around the historic Mughal fort which will see the presence of senior Ministers, top bureaucrats, foreign dignitaries and common people. >Read more
7.15 a.m.: At Bengaluru's Lalbagh flower show ahead of Independence Day, a replica of Parliament House is in bloom. Here are >the pictures
