PM Agenda More Ambitious, Gets Heavier

Prime Minister Modi's mantra on the eighth consecutive Independence Day speech was 'Chhota kisan bane desh ki shaan.' "It's our dream. In years to come, we've to further increase the collective strength of small farmers of the country, we will have to provide them new facilities," he said.

Before we take a look at what Modi had said since he became the PM, one needs to acknowledge that having worked as a RSS Pracharak and having risen from being an RSS worker to the high post of Prime Minister of India, Modi knows how to put forward his views clearly and with a touch of motivation.

This trend began with his first Independence Day speech in 2014. It was an extempore speech and he succeeded in directly getting connected with most of the people and succeeded in highlighting the issues the country was facing while explaining his government's policies and his vision of a Naya Bharat. Since then, the PM has followed a similar format every year on Independence Day, delivering the progress reports of the last year and the path ahead for the next year announcing some landmark schemes.

In his first speech, he focused on social equity in India, his humble origin and the opportunity for him to become the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy. He stressed on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Make in India and separate toilets in all schools for girl students, Digital India. In 2015, his slogan was Start up India and promise to electrify all villages in the country within 1,000 days. A year later, making a departure, he raised Baluchistan, Gilgit, and Pak-Occupied-Kashmir issues prominently and requested neighbours to make fighting poverty a core issue. The speech highlighted the need for social equity in India and prevention of atrocities on Dalits

In 2017, Modi came with an explanation as to why the country had to go in for demonetisation and his intention to root out corruption. In the subsequent years, he spoke about sending an Indian into space, permanent commission for women officers in armed forces, the issue of triple talaq and a host of welfare schemes.

This year, he rightly applauded the athletes for the remarkable achievement at Tokyo Olympics by making all clap for the athletes. He also emphasised on the need for giving greater importance to sports in educational institutions. Expressing his concern over people forgetting the pain of partition, he reiterated his decision to observe August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.

In another major announcement, PM Modi announced to launch PM Gati Shakti Plan, a Rs 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan which will lay a foundation for holistic infrastructure and give an integrated pathway to the economy. Similarly, he spoke about zero carbon emission and the need to make India energy-independent before completing 100 years of independence. Focussing on women empowerment, Modi announced that girls would now be allowed admission in all sainik/army schools in the country. Well, the agenda is becoming heavier. What is equally important is that the political executive should ensure that the bureaucracy supports these initiatives. Let us hope that the schemes will be free of bureaucratic red tape.