Unfurling the national flag and his vision of “Amrit Kal,” on India’s 76th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled five resolutions “panchpran” for the country for the next 25 years, when India will mark its Independence centenary.
In his signature Independence Day speech, his eighth as the prime minister of the country. PM Modi underlined that India’s fight against corruption is entering a “decisive period” as he identified corruption and nepotism as the two big challenges facing the country. During his one-hour and 23 minutes speech, PM Modi announced the five resolutions that will make India a developed nation by 2047. These include: big resolve; second, to abandon the slave mentality; third, we have to feel proud about our heritage; fourth, unity and solidarity; and fifth, the duty of citizens.
Calling India the “mother of democracy,” PM Modi said that India’s strength lies in its diversity. The Red Fort was decked up in festive colours as PM Modi unfurled the National Flag amid a 21-gun salute by the indigenously developed howitzer gun, ATAGS. For the first time, a prototype of the advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS) was used for the ceremonial 21-gun salute along with British guns that have been traditionally used for the event. The howitzer has been designed and developed under the government’s Make in India initiative to strengthen the defence manufacturing sector in the country. Alluding to the indigenously developed howitzer gun, PM Modi underscored that a self-reliant India was not a government programme, but a mass movement for the society to take forward.
