PM's Independence Day Speech

         SALIENT FEATURES OF PM’S INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH

1)     The Food Security Bill is now before Parliament and we hope it will be passed shortly. This law will benefit 75 per cent of our rural population and half of our urban population. Under the law, about 81 crore Indians would be entitled to receive rice at 3 Rupees per kg, wheat at 2 Rupees per kg and coarse grains at 1 Rupee per kg. This is the largest effort of its kind in the whole world.

2)   We have been able to implement this law only because of the hard work of our farmers. Our food-grain production reached a record level of 25.9 crore ton in 2011-12. The average annual rate of agricultural growth in the 11th Plan was 3.6, which is more than both the 9th and 10th Plan levels.

3)   We now see clear indications of enhanced economic prosperity in our rural areas. In the period from 2004 to 2011, rural per-capita consumption has increased four times faster than earlier. Rural wages have also increased much faster in this period. MNREGA provides employment to crores of people in rural areas.

4)   The number of young men and women going to college has more than doubled in the last 9 years. Today, the Central government provides scholarships to more than 2 crore children.

5)    Many new institutions have been opened in the area of higher education. For example, 8 new IITs, 7 New IIMs, 16 new Central universities and 10 new NITs. New institutions have also been opened to boost scientific research. Steps have been taken to attract students to the study of science and encourage Indian scientists working abroad to return to India.

6)   About 11 crore children are being provided afternoon meals every day in schools under the Mid-day Meal Scheme. This programme is of immense benefit for both education and nutrition of children.

7)    We had launched the National Rural Health Mission in 2005. The Mission has started showing good results. Both Maternal Maternity and Infant Mortality rates have come down sharply. A much larger proportion of children is now born in hospitals. There has also been a large increase in the proportion of children being inoculated.

8)   No case of polio has been detected in the country in the last two years. We have been able to eradicate a disease which used to cause disability to lakhs of people. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, which provides free in-patient treatment in hospitals to our poor brothers and sisters, now covers about 3.5 crore families.

9)   About 2 lakh km of new roads have been constructed for connecting villages under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana. More than 37,000 km of new highways have been built, facilitating travel and trade. More than 40 airports have been built or upgraded.

10)            In 2004, only 7 per cent of the people had telephone connections. Today, 73 per cent enjoy this facility. In rural areas, this figure has gone up from 2 to 40. There has been a record addition to our capacity for electricity generation.

11) I believe that this phase of slow growth in India will not last long. In the last 9 years, our economy has grown at an annual average rate of 7.9 per cent. This pace of development is the highest in any decade so far.

12)           Our Look East policy in respect of 10 ASEAN countries in East and South-East Asia has borne good results, especially in economic matters.

13)           We will start work on a number of new infrastructure projects in the coming months. This includes 2 new ports, 8 new airports, new industrial corridors and rail projects.
To boost Foreign Direct Investment, we have recently enhanced the limit of such investment in many sectors and made it easier procedurally.

14)           Computerisation of the Public Distribution System will be speeded up. The Mid-day Meal scheme will be reformed.

15)            We have established the National Skill Development Authority a few months back. We will shortly launch a new scheme under which those who have successfully acquired new skills will be given a grant of about Rupees 10,000. This scheme will benefit about 10 lakh young men and women in the next 12 months.

16)           The Multi Sectoral Development Programme for minorities has been reformed recently. We will now implement it effectively.

17)            A scheme for offering Minimum Support Prices for minor forest produce has been approved some days back. This will enable our tribal brothers and sisters to get remunerative prices for the minor forest produce they collect. We will implement the scheme expeditiously.

18)           A High Level Committee has been constituted to collect accurate information about the socio-economic, educational and health status of our tribal population. The report of the Committee will help us in designing better schemes for their benefit.

19)           The Aadhaar scheme is a good example. Under the scheme, by the end of this year, about 50 crore people will acquire the means of proving their identity and this will bring them convenience in their daily lives. It will also enable crores of people to avail of banking facilities for the first time.