15 AUG 2026 | Technocrat Magazine
India does not suffer from a shortage of ambition.It suffers from a shortage of new questions.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 2026, marking the 80th Independence Day and the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, once again placed a large national ambition at the centre of the political narrative: a developed India—Viksit Bharat—by 2047. Greater self-reliance. Stronger manufacturing. Technology leadership. Energy security. Defence capability. A larger role for India in the world. The address also introduced a seven-part development framework—Saptadhara or the Seven Streams of Power—spanning manufacturing, agriculture and food processing, technology and innovation, Gati Shakti connectivity, defence power, the green and blue economy, and soft power.These are important priorities.
They build on twelve years of visible transformation: digital public infrastructure that has changed how Indians pay, identify themselves and access services; highways, airports, railways and logistics that have expanded at historic pace; manufacturing ambitions that have moved from rhetoric toward semiconductors, electronics, defence and strategic industries; and a growing comfort with discussing artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, critical minerals and technological sovereignty.
The 2026 address placed particular emphasis on critical minerals, energy and semiconductor capability, while announcing major initiatives around youth, AI training for one crore young Indians, free online coaching, an innovation fund, nuclear targets, and an appeal for women’s reservation. It celebrated the first rendering of Vande Mataram from the Red Fort on Independence Day and paid tribute to freedom fighters while noting recent natural disasters.Yet there is a more uncomfortable question that India’s political leadership—and indeed its entire political class—must confront:Are we still imagining the future, or are we simply extending the present?That is the deeper issue raised by the debate surrounding this year’s address.
The complete address: English rendering of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the Red Fort, 15 August 2026
(Official English rendering issued by the Press Information Bureau, Government of India. The full text is lengthy; key sections are reproduced below for completeness and public record, with the understanding that the official PIB and PMO releases remain the authoritative sources.)
My dear fellow citizens,Today, we are celebrating the 80th Independence Day. Today, every heartbeat resonates with the chant of Vande Mataram. Today, there is “Har Ghar Tiranga Hai, Har Man Tiranga Hai” (the Tricolour in every home, the Tricolour in every heart) and the country is moving forward with enthusiasm and renewed energy, carrying new resolutions with it. My best wishes to all of you on Independence Day. Today, the nation remembers with reverence those great sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifices for the freedom of our country. Through their perseverance, sacrifice, and dedication, they devoted their entire lives to the single goal of achieving independence. Today, I respectfully salute revered Bapu, all the freedom fighters, and the great revolutionaries who inspired this glorious tradition of sacrifice. For everyone present at this ceremony today, this is also a historic moment.
For the first time since independence, Vande Mataram is echoing from the Red Fort on August 15. And as we celebrate 150 years of Vande Mataram today, what could be a more wonderful occasion than this?My dear fellow citizens,In recent days, several parts of the country have faced severe flooding and landslides, affecting many families. We fully understand and feel their suffering and pain. I want to assure the affected families that we and the entire nation stand firmly with them.A nation becomes great and achieves its goals when it moves forward on the strength of its dreams, its resolutions, and its capabilities. We can no longer move forward with small dreams. We must dream big, because big dreams expand our thinking. They broaden the horizons of our vision as well. Our resolutions must be firm. When our resolve is strong, the ability to find a way through difficulties and even in the midst of disasters emerges on its own. Our resolutions must also be high. Because when our dreams are high and our resolutions are high, the heights of our capabilities also rise.
The scale of our efforts also increases, and only then can we turn our dreams into reality.Bharat has also set a very big dream today—a dream backed by firm resolve, a dream of reaching new heights. And that dream is this: when we complete 100 years of independence in 2047, we will have built a ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India). Through the efforts and hard work of 140 crore citizens, we must achieve this goal. And when the world’s most populous country resolves to become a developed nation, it becomes a symbol of our courage in the eyes of the world. The world is compelled to change the way it looks at us.Over the past 12 years, crores of citizens of the country, whether dalits, oppressed, deprived, tribal communities, people living in villages or cities, the poor, the middle class, the youth, the elderly, women or men, whether from the North, South, East, or West, everyone has made every possible effort to take the nation to new heights with determination and dedication.
I respectfully acknowledge and honour their efforts. And it is the result of these efforts that 25 crore citizens have overcome poverty and risen out of poverty in such a short period. It is also the result of the efforts of these citizens that we were once counted among the Fragile Five, but within 12 years, we have become a major economy and the fastest-growing major economy.The country became independent with many dreams. But we were unable to pick up the pace; we could not achieve the speed we needed. We remained caught up in an attitude of, “It will happen, things will move along, we’ll see what happens.” By 2014, the entire world had dumped us among the Fragile Five.
At such a time, Bharat has found a new momentum over the past 12 years. We are moving forward rapidly, and the resolve of the people of the country is clear: it is now impossible to stop the determination and capabilities of 140 crore citizens.Over the past 12 years, defence production has increased nearly fourfold. Production by the Khadi and Village Industries sector has increased nearly fivefold. Electronics manufacturing has increased nearly sevenfold. Production of modern railway coaches has increased 21 times. Mobile phone production has increased 35 times. The number of internet users and consumers has increased nearly fourfold. The number of patents granted has increased fourfold. Digital transactions have increased 100 times. Every year, we have provided tap-water connections at an average rate 15 times faster than before. Gas connections have been provided at an average rate six times faster each year. The construction of toilets for the poor has progressed at four times the annual rate. The pace of providing homes to the poor has increased threefold each year. Thousands of compliances have been eliminated. Hundreds of outdated laws have been repealed.
We have expanded metro networks and strengthened public transportation. The speed, scale and achievements of the last decade are something the country has witnessed for the first time since independence. The resolve to build a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 can never remain unfulfilled.But for that, we need self-confidence. We need a sense of self-respect. And, at the same time, it is extremely important to become ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. Bharat should no longer live by depending on other countries. We must become self-reliant. Relying on cheaper and quicker options from elsewhere does not build our own capabilities. Therefore, we are moving forward with a firm resolve for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. The hearts of Indians are connecting with initiatives like Make in India, Swadeshi, Vocal for Local.Let me give you the example of semiconductors.
After we became independent, the world had already been discussing semiconductors. There was discussion about them in our country as well, but we were unable to take forward any major semiconductor plan. In today’s digital world, chips are indispensable. Bharat has begun establishing its own semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Three major semiconductor plants have already been started. Production from these facilities has already begun to be exported. Over the coming seven to eight years, another five, seven, or even eight semiconductor plants are expected to begin operations. This ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ provides us with a great highway toward becoming a ‘Viksit Bharat’.A similar discussion is taking place around critical minerals. The entire technology sector is dependent on critical minerals. Bharat is working to secure itself in this area as well.
We have launched the National Critical Minerals Mission and announced the ‘Critical Minerals Corridor’. Agreements are being signed with several countries.The importance of energy continues to grow. Whether it is chips, AI or data centres, we will need electricity in very large quantities. Energy security is the need of the hour. By passing the SHANTI Act in Parliament, we have paved the way. By 2047, we are working towards a target of 100 gigawatts of nuclear power. Within this very decade, we have set a target of starting five new nuclear reactors. This year, Bharat crossed an important milestone by mastering fast breeder nuclear technology.At times, it is not a lack of resources that holds a country back, but the limitations of its thinking. We had declared 99% of our entire coastal area as a no-go area.
This was poverty of thought. We have opened up that 99% as a Go-Ahead Area. Last year we announced Samudra Manthan and allocated ₹85,000 crore.Before 2014, only 70 cities had piped gas infrastructure. In 12 years, we have taken these to 700 cities. Piped gas is now reaching nearly 1.75 crore households. Solar energy capacity has grown from 2 gigawatts to 160 gigawatts. Under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, we have crossed the milestone of installing solar energy systems in 50 lakh homes.Railway electrification: 30% in 90 years; the remaining 70% completed in one decade. Bharat has started its first hydrogen-powered train—the longest and most powerful of its kind.We have faced crises—COVID-19, wars in Ukraine and West Asia. Some sought to spread fear. But the preparations of the past 10–12 years bore fruit. India stands on the strength of its own capabilities. Global urea prices reached Rs 3,000; we give it to farmers at Rs 300. DAP at global Rs 5,000 is supplied at Rs 1,350.The world has turned away from pure globalisation toward weaponising resources—petrol, diesel, fertilisers, medicines, chips, even territory. Self-reliance prepared us. India’s profile is rising. We have entered Free Trade Agreements with nearly 40 countries. I urge MSMEs not to miss this opportunity. Textiles from Ludhiana to Tiruppur, seafood from our long coastline—quality and affordability must meet global parameters.A quarter of the century has passed; the next is of immense importance. The work which has not been done in the last 5–7 decades, we have to do in the coming 5–7 years. I have faith in the youth power, the mothers and sisters, the farmers and labourers of my country.
We must take reforms forward—next-level reform. Government, society, industry, producers, farmers—everyone must reform traditional systems, thinking and goals.Today, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I invoke these seven streams (Saptadhara) of power before the country.First: Manufacturing power. We must significantly advance manufacturing. The entire value chain should be ours—from small components to large-scale products, from design to manufacturing. India must emerge as a trusted hub in the global supply chain. Cost, quality and scale. Zero-defect precision manufacturing should become our hallmark. Quality, quality, quality.Second: Agriculture and food production. Move toward food processing. From farm to export market. Traditional cuisine, millets, spices, fruits, flowers—make them global brands. Greater impetus to chemical-free farming.Third: Technology and innovation. The age of AI, quantum technology, space, robotics and data centres.
We must not merely turn our country into a market for the world; we must become a hub of innovation. We have demonstrated capabilities through UPI and digital public infrastructure. Now take digital public technologies to every corner of the world. Lead in next-generation communication technologies. Made-in-India 6G should reach the world.Fourth: Gati Shakti. Seamless and fast connectivity. High-speed rail, modern highways, inland waterways, airports, multimodal logistics. Port-led development.Fifth: Raksha Shakti (defence power). There is no alternative to being self-reliant in defence. Develop next-generation defence technologies and become a global supplier.
Drones, counter-drone systems, hypersonic technologies. Cybersecurity is an area where youth capabilities can serve the country and the world.Sixth: Green economy and blue economy. Green hydrogen, renewable energy, energy storage, green mobility and green manufacturing at global scale. Blue economy: fisheries, coastal tourism, ocean technology—our long coastline offers tremendous opportunities. Green jobs.Seventh: Soft power. Yoga has connected the world with Bharat. Ayurveda, holistic healthcare, Heal in India. Handicrafts, culture, films, VFX, animation, gaming, digital content. Develop this into a global strength.
The WAVES Summit is gaining momentum.Alongside these streams, the potential of the nation’s youth power will be fully harnessed. From the Red Fort I announce: we have resolved that in the coming year we shall provide AI skill training to 1 crore youths so that the youth of our nation possess the capability to lead in the realm of AI. A 1 lakh crore rupee innovation fund has been established. Bring forth your grandest dreams; we shall ensure no paucity of resources. Free online coaching for competitive examinations. Talent hunt campaigns for Olympics participation in 2036, focusing on the 5–15 age group.I call upon all political parties: ensure our mothers and sisters secure 33% representation in the legislative assemblies and the Lok Sabha without delay so they may contribute their brilliance to the formulation of India’s policies. We shall construct a highly vibrant civil defence network familiar with modern systems to protect citizens from contemporary crises.
We have to keep eradicating the mentality of slavery every moment. From a solitary lamp, may thousands be ignited. Come, let us unite, to forge a developed India. With this singular, profound emotion, upon this auspicious festival, I extend my manifold felicitations to you all. Chant with me: Bharat Mata ki Jai! Vande Mataram!(End of key official rendering excerpts. Readers are encouraged to consult the complete PIB English rendering and original Hindi address for the full official record.)
The problem with 2047
“Viksit Bharat 2047” is an extraordinarily powerful political objective. It gives the nation a horizon. It concentrates energy. It allows governments to sequence investments and citizens to orient aspirations.But a destination is not a strategy.Saying that India will become a developed country by 2047 tells us where we want to go. It does not necessarily tell us what kind of economy, society, institutions, cities, education system, technology ecosystem or social contract India must build to get there.
It does not automatically generate the institutional architecture, the incentive structures, the research culture or the risk-taking capacity required for a country of India’s scale and complexity to leap rather than merely climb.India has already demonstrated that it can execute at extraordinary scale. Digital public infrastructure has transformed payments and identity. Highways, airports, railways and logistics infrastructure have expanded. Manufacturing ambitions have moved from rhetoric toward semiconductors, electronics, defence and strategic industries. India is increasingly comfortable discussing artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, critical minerals and technological sovereignty. The Prime Minister’s 2026 address correctly placed emphasis on these domains and announced concrete steps on AI skilling, semiconductors, nuclear capacity and youth opportunity.The question is no longer whether India can build more.The question is whether India can invent differently.
From execution to imagination
The first decade of the Modi era was, in many respects, about execution.Build infrastructure. Digitise government. Expand formalisation. Improve tax administration. Create digital rails. Promote manufacturing. Increase India’s strategic confidence. Lift tens of millions out of multidimensional poverty. These were necessary foundations, and they were delivered with a seriousness of purpose that previous decades often lacked.The next decade requires something different. It requires institutional imagination.A country of India’s scale cannot become a truly developed economy simply by building more roads, factories and digital platforms. It must create entirely new economic models.
It must redesign the relationship between citizen and state, between capital and ideas, between education and opportunity, between risk and reward.Consider artificial intelligence. India should not merely ask: How can AI make Indian government services more efficient? It should ask: Can India build the world’s most sophisticated AI-enabled public-service state? One that anticipates needs, personalises delivery, protects privacy by design, and turns public data into a platform for private innovation without becoming a surveillance machine. The difference between those two questions is enormous.
The first is optimisation.
The second is invention.The same logic applies across domains. Can Indian cities become laboratories of intelligent urbanism rather than merely denser versions of today’s cities? Can universities become engines of frontier research rather than examination factories? Can capital markets systematically finance deep-tech experimentation rather than primarily rewarding asset-light consumer models? Can government procurement become the world’s largest test-bed for Indian innovation rather than a source of delayed payments and compliance burdens?These are questions of design, not merely of budget allocation.
The missing conversation about productivity
India’s great economic challenge remains productivity. Millions of young Indians entering the workforce need not merely jobs. They need access to high-productivity jobs—roles in which output per worker rises rapidly because of technology, skills, capital intensity and organisational excellence.That requires a fundamentally different approach to education, vocational training, entrepreneurship, urbanisation, capital formation and technology adoption. The Prime Minister’s announcement of AI training for one crore young Indians and free online coaching addresses an immediate and important problem around access and opportunity.
It is a welcome step.But the larger question remains: What will these young Indians actually build?India needs to move from an economy that primarily asks young people to compete for existing opportunities to one that systematically creates new categories of opportunity. That means universities designed around research rather than examinations. Capital markets designed to finance experimentation. Government procurement designed to create markets for Indian innovation. Cities designed to attract global talent. Corporations incentivised to invest in frontier technologies rather than merely optimise existing ones. And an education system that rewards curiosity as much as conformity.Productivity is not only about more machines or more software. It is about institutions that allow human capability to compound.
India needs a new innovation state
For decades, the Indian state has largely operated as a regulator, administrator and provider. The next-generation state must increasingly become a platform for innovation.Imagine an India where a young entrepreneur can incorporate a company in hours, access government datasets through secure APIs, test products in designated regulatory sandboxes, sell to government through transparent procurement platforms, access institutional capital and scale globally without spending years navigating fragmented bureaucracy.
Imagine regulatory frameworks that evolve as fast as the technologies they govern. Imagine public research institutions that treat intellectual property as a national asset to be commercialised rather than a bureaucratic trophy.That would be a genuine development strategy. Not another slogan. The technology already exists. The institutional architecture is what needs to catch up.
The semiconductor lesson—and the AI lesson
Semiconductors are an excellent example. India’s semiconductor ambition is strategically important. The country is pursuing multiple fabrication and packaging projects and has placed chips at the heart of technological self-reliance. The Prime Minister correctly highlighted progress: three plants operational with exports beginning, and five to eight more expected.But semiconductor sovereignty cannot end with factories. A semiconductor ecosystem requires the full stack: chips → design → EDA tools → IP → equipment → materials → packaging → talent → applications → global customers. Without design capability, advanced packaging, materials science and a deep talent pipeline, fabrication plants risk becoming assembly points in someone else’s value chain.
The same logic applies with even greater force to artificial intelligence. Building data centres is necessary but not sufficient. India must own models, compute infrastructure, specialised chips, curated datasets, research institutions, application layers and global distribution channels. Otherwise, we risk becoming an enormous consumer market for somebody else’s technology—digital dependence dressed up as digital progress.Self-reliance in the 21st century cannot mean producing everything domestically.
No serious technology economy operates that way. The smarter definition is: India should possess the capability to remain strategically resilient while participating aggressively in global markets.
That means being globally connected but not strategically vulnerable. It means exporting technology, capital, intellectual property and talent. It means Indian companies becoming multinational platforms rather than merely large domestic businesses. And it means attracting global capital not simply because India is a large market, but because India is one of the world’s best places to build the future.
The politics of the future
There is another issue that deserves attention. The 2026 address, like many political speeches, spent energy on national unity, the fading of armed Naxalism, and the need to remain vigilant against what the Prime Minister has previously described as ideological or “dimagi” challenges. Security and national cohesion matter. A nation cannot innovate if it is fractured or insecure.But a great nation cannot build its future primarily by defining what it is against. The most powerful political vision is one that tells citizens what they can become. India’s political imagination should therefore move beyond “Who threatens us?” and ask: What can India create that the world has never seen?That is a much harder question. And a much more consequential one.
The real competition is no longer only with China
India’s strategic conversation often compares itself with China. That comparison is useful—scale, manufacturing depth, infrastructure speed, technological ambition—but incomplete. The real competition is with time.Technology is accelerating. AI is restructuring knowledge work. Robotics is changing manufacturing. Energy systems are transforming. Biotechnology is advancing. Climate risk is reshaping infrastructure and agriculture. Capital is becoming increasingly mobile and selective. Countries that create the institutional capacity to adapt will compound their advantage. Those that simply preserve today’s systems will fall behind—even if their GDP continues to grow for a while.India therefore needs institutions capable of changing faster than the problems they are designed to solve. That is the deepest meaning of “next-level reforms.”
What should India’s next national vision look like?
A genuinely new Indian development agenda could be built around a different set of questions:
- Can India become the world’s largest innovation economy—not merely the world’s largest startup market or the world’s largest consumer of technology?
- Can every Indian access world-class, personalised education through AI and hybrid models—not merely more classrooms and more coaching?
- Can Indian cities become global economic and talent magnets—not merely larger urban populations with better infrastructure?
- Can India become a global exporter of intellectual property, standards and deep technology—not merely an outsourcing destination or an assembly location?
- Can Indian companies create global technology platforms and multinational capabilities—not merely domestic unicorns valued on internal consumption?
- Can government become India’s largest innovation platform—not merely its largest administrator and regulator?
- Can India build a new social contract around opportunity, mobility and contribution—not merely around redistribution and welfare?
These are the questions that could define India’s next 25 years.
The danger of incremental ambition
This is perhaps the strongest criticism that can be made of the current political discourse, even when the ambition is large. India’s ambition is enormous. But sometimes the vocabulary describing that ambition feels smaller than the ambition itself.Manufacturing. Infrastructure. Self-reliance. Digitalisation. Energy. Defence. Jobs. Exports. All are necessary. They are the pillars. But they are not yet the full architecture of the future.A developed India cannot simply be a richer, better-connected, more formalised version of today’s India. It must be a fundamentally different India. A country where the relationship between citizen and state is redesigned for the digital age. Where education is personalised and continuous. Where healthcare is predictive and preventive. Where cities are intelligent and liveable. Where energy is abundant, clean and reliable. Where manufacturing is automated, high-precision and globally competitive. Where capital flows rapidly toward productive innovation. Where government data becomes an engine of economic discovery while privacy remains protected by design. Where Indian universities compete with the world’s best in research output and talent attraction. Where entrepreneurs do not need political connections to build companies of global scale. Where failure is treated as part of the innovation process rather than a permanent social stigma.That is the India worth imagining.
From Viksit Bharat to Invented Bharat
Perhaps India’s next great national slogan should not be about becoming merely developed. Development is a benchmark—important, measurable, necessary. Innovation is a mindset. India should aspire to become an inventing nation.A nation that does not merely adopt the technologies of the next century but helps define them. A nation that does not simply ask how many jobs technology will create, but what new industries technology can make possible. A nation that does not merely seek foreign investment, but exports Indian capital, companies, standards and ideas to the world. A nation that does not simply become a multi-trillion-dollar economy, but changes what economic growth itself looks like in an age of AI, climate constraint and demographic complexity.
The Independence Day question
Independence Day is ultimately about more than celebrating what India has achieved. It is about asking what freedom makes possible.The freedom struggle was powered by an idea that did not yet exist in reality: an independent India. The builders of modern India similarly imagined institutions—the Constitution, the democratic framework, the scientific establishments, the public sector enterprises of their time—that had never existed before in this form. Today’s generation deserves the same intellectual audacity.The challenge before India’s leadership is therefore not simply to provide more targets. It is to provide new possibilities. The country does not need another twenty-five-year calendar filled with milestones. It needs a new national imagination.Because by 2047, India should not merely be able to say: We became developed.It should be able to say something far more consequential: We created a new model of development—and the world came to learn from it.That is the standard against which India’s next political generation should be measured.And that is the conversation India needs to begin now—honestly, urgently, and without the comfort of incrementalism.
Editorial Note — TECHNOCRAAT / YTC VENTURES
This article is an independent editorial analysis. It engages with the Prime Minister’s 2026 Independence Day address and the broader debate it has generated, including critical perspectives such as the Deccan Herald opinion piece “Independence Day address reveals Modi’s crisis of fresh ideas.” It is not a reproduction of any single external article. The views expressed are those of the editorial perspective and are intended to stimulate serious debate around India’s technology, economic and institutional future. Official speech text is drawn from the Press Information Bureau English rendering. Readers are encouraged to consult primary government sources for the complete official record.TECHNOCRAAT is published under the YTC Ventures ecosystem, focusing on technology, capital, entrepreneurship, innovation and the ideas shaping India’s next economic era.
प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी का 80वें स्वतंत्रता दिवस पर लाल किले से संबोधन (पूर्ण हिंदी पाठ)TECHNOCRAAT | YTC VENTURES — प्रकाशनयहाँ प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी का 15 अगस्त 2026 को लाल किले की प्राचीर से दिया गया 80वें स्वतंत्रता दिवस का संबोधन हिंदी में प्रस्तुत है। यह पाठ आधिकारिक प्रेस सूचना ब्यूरो (PIB) और प्रमुख समाचार स्रोतों (जनसत्ता आदि) से उपलब्ध सामग्री पर आधारित है। पूर्ण आधिकारिक पाठ के लिए PIB और प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय के आधिकारिक प्रकाशन देखें।
मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,आज हम सब 80वां स्वतंत्रता दिवस मना रहे हैं। आज हर दिलों की धड़कन वंदे मातरम के नाद से गूंज रही है। आज हर घर तिरंगा है, हर मन तिरंगा है और देश उत्साह और उमंग के साथ नए संकल्पों को लेकर के आज आगे बढ़ रहा है। आप सबको स्वतंत्रता दिवस की बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएं।देश आज उन महान सपूतों का पुण्य स्मरण करती है, जिन्होंने देश की आजादी के लिए त्याग, बलिदान की पराकाष्ठा की। अपने तप, त्याग और बलिदान से आजादी के एकमात्र लक्ष्य को लेकर के अपनी पूरी जिंदगी खपा दी। पूज्य बापू समेत सभी स्वतंत्र सेनानियों को बलिदान की महान परंपरा जगाने वाले महान क्रांतिकारियों को आज मैं श्रद्धापूर्वक नमन करता हूं।आज जो इस समारोह में उपस्थित हैं, उन सबके लिए आज एक ऐतिहासिक पल भी है। आजादी के बाद 15 अगस्त को लाल किले पर पहली बार वंदे मातरम गूंज रहा है। आज जब हम देश के लोग वंदे मातरम के 150 वर्ष मना रहे हैं, तो इससे बड़ा उत्तम अवसर क्या हो सकता है।मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,पिछले दिनों, देश के कुछ हिस्सों में बाढ़ का प्रकोप रहा, भूस्खलन का प्रकोप रहा, अनेक परिवार प्रभावित हुए। उनके दुख, दर्द को हम भलिभांति अनुभव करते हैं। पीड़ित परिवारों को मैं विश्वास दिलाता हूं कि हम और पूरा देश उनके साथ खड़े हैं।
मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,कोई भी राष्ट्र तब महान बनता है, तब अपनी सिद्धियों को प्राप्त करता है, जब अपने सपनों, अपने संकल्पों और अपने सामर्थ्य के दम पर आगे बढ़ता है।अब छोटे सपनों से चलने वाला नहीं है। हमें बड़े सपने देखने चाहिए, क्योंकि बड़े सपने हमारी सोच को भी विस्तार देते हैं। हमारी सोच के क्षितिज को भी विस्तृत करते हैं। हमारे संकल्प दृढ़ होने चाहिए। जब संकल्प दृढ़ होता है, तो कठिनाइयों से, आपदाओं के बीच से रास्ते निकालने का सामर्थ्य अपने आप उभरकर आता है।हमारे संकल्प भी ऊंचे होने चाहिए क्योंकि जब सपने ऊंचे होते हैं, संकल्प ऊंचे होते हैं, तो हमारे सामर्थ्य की ऊंचाई भी बढ़ती है, हमारे प्रयासों की ऊंचाई भी बढ़ती है और तब जाकर हम सपनों को साकार कर सकते हैं।मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,आज भारत ने भी एक बहुत बड़ा सपना देखा है, दृढ़ संकल्प के साथ देखा है, नई ऊंचाइयों को छूने के लिए देखा है, और वह सपना है — जब आजादी के 100 साल होंगे, 2047 में हम विकसित भारत बना के रहेंगे।
140 करोड़ देशवासियों के पुरुषार्थ से, इस लक्ष्य को हमें हासिल करना है। और जब दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी आबादी वाला देश विकसित होने का संकल्प लेता है, तो यह दुनिया की नजरों में भी हमारे साहस का परिचायक बन जाता है। दुनिया हमारी तरफ देखने का नजरिया बदलने के लिए मजबूर हो जाती है।पिछले 12 वर्ष में देश के कोटि-कोटि नागरिकों ने — दलित हो, पीड़ित हो, वंचित हो, आदिवासी हो, गांव में रहने वाला हो, शहर में रहने वाला हो, गरीब हो, मध्यम वर्ग का हो, युवा हो, बुजुर्ग हो, नारी हो, पुरुष हो, उत्तर हो, दक्षिण हो, पूरब हो, पश्चिम हो — हर किसी ने पिछले 12 साल में एक संकल्प के साथ, समर्पण के साथ, देश को नई ऊंचाइयों पर ले जाने में हर प्रकार से प्रयास किया है। मैं उनके इन प्रयासों का आदरपूर्वक स्वीकार करता हूं। और उसी का परिणाम है कि इतने कम समय में 25 करोड़ देशवासी गरीबी को परास्त करके गरीबी से बाहर निकले हैं। इन्हीं देशवासियों के प्रयास का परिणाम है कि हम कभी फ्रेजाइल फाइव में गिने जाते थे।
12 साल के भीतर-भीतर हम एक मेजर इकोनॉमी में सबसे तेज गति से बढ़ती अर्थव्यवस्था बन गए हैं।देश आजाद हुआ, बहुत सारे सपने लेकर के आजाद हुआ, लेकिन हम गति नहीं पकड़ पाए, रफ्तार नहीं पकड़ पाए। “होती है, चलती है, अरे हो जाएगा, देखा जाएगा” — उसी में खोए रहे। 2014 तक आते-आते तो पूरे विश्व ने हमें फ्रेजाइल फाइव में डंप कर दिया था। ऐसे समय, पिछले 12 साल में भारत ने एक नई रफ्तार पकड़ी है। तेज गति से हम आगे बढ़ रहे हैं और देशवासियों का संकल्प है कि अब 140 करोड़ देशवासियों के संकल्प और सामर्थ्य को रोकना नामुमकिन है।पिछले 12 वर्षों में डिफेंस प्रोडक्शन करीब 4 गुना हुआ। खादी और ग्राम उद्योग का उत्पादन करीब 5 गुना हुआ। इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मैन्युफैक्चरिंग करीब 7 गुना बढ़ा। आधुनिक रेलवे कोच का निर्माण 21 गुना बढ़ा। मोबाइल फोन उत्पादन 35 गुना बढ़ा। डिजिटल और इनोवेशन की दुनिया में भी हमने अपना परचम लहराया। इंटरनेट यूजर करीब चार गुना बढ़े। पेटेंट ग्रांट होने की संख्या 4 गुना बढ़ी।
डिजिटल ट्रांजेक्शन 100 गुना बढ़े।सामान्य मानवी की सुविधाओं की तरफ भी हमने उतना ही गंभीरता से काम किया। हर साल औसतन 15 गुना ज्यादा तेजी से हमने नल से जल कनेक्शन दिए। हर साल औसतन छह गुनी ज्यादा रफ्तार से लोगों को गैस कनेक्शन दिए। हर साल चार गुनी रफ्तार से गरीबों के लिए टॉयलेट बनाने का काम किया। हर साल तीन गुना ज्यादा तेजी से गरीबों को घर देने का काम किया। हजारों की संख्या में compliances खत्म किए। सैकड़ों की तादाद में पुराने कानून खत्म किए। पिछली शताब्दी के कानूनों से 21वीं शताब्दी की मार्च नहीं हो सकती।जब इतनी सारी सिद्धियां हमारे सामने हों, इतनी तेज गति दिखाई देती हो, देशवासियों का सामर्थ्य पल-पल प्रबल होता है, तब तो 2047 में विकसित भारत बनने का संकल्प कभी भी अधूरा नहीं रह सकता है।मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,इसके लिए हमें आत्मविश्वास चाहिए। हमें आत्मगौरव चाहिए। और साथ ही साथ आत्मनिर्भर भारत बनना अत्यंत आवश्यक है। भारत अब दूसरों पर निर्भर रहकर नहीं जीना चाहिए। हमें आत्मनिर्भर बनना होगा। इसलिए हम आत्मनिर्भर भारत के दृढ़ संकल्प के साथ आगे बढ़ रहे हैं। मेक इन इंडिया, स्वदेशी, वोकल फॉर लोकल — इनसे आज हर भारतीय का मन जुड़ रहा है।सेमीकंडक्टर का उदाहरण लें। आज तीन बड़े सेमीकंडक्टर प्लांट शुरू हो चुके हैं और उनका उत्पादन निर्यात भी शुरू हो गया है। आने वाले 7-8 वर्षों में 5, 7 या 8 और सेमीकंडक्टर प्लांट शुरू होने वाले हैं। क्रिटिकल मिनरल्स के क्षेत्र में भी हम आगे बढ़ रहे हैं। नेशनल क्रिटिकल मिनरल्स मिशन शुरू किया है। ऊर्जा सुरक्षा के लिए परमाणु ऊर्जा का लक्ष्य 2047 तक 100 गीगावाट रखा है। इस दशक में पांच नए परमाणु रिएक्टर शुरू करने का लक्ष्य है।
सोच की सीमाएं ही अक्सर देश को पीछे रखती हैं। पहले हमने 99 प्रतिशत तटीय क्षेत्र को नो-गो एरिया घोषित कर रखा था। अब उसे गो-अहेड एरिया बना दिया है। समुद्र मंथन की घोषणा की और 85,000 करोड़ रुपये आवंटित किए। सोलर क्षमता 2 गीगावाट से बढ़कर 160 गीगावाट हो गई है। पीएम सूर्य घर मुफ्त बिजली योजना के तहत 50 लाख घरों में सोलर सिस्टम लग चुके हैं। रेलवे विद्युतीकरण — 90 साल में 30 प्रतिशत, बाकी 70 प्रतिशत एक दशक में पूरा।साथियों,आज लाल किले की प्राचीर से मैं देश के सामने शक्ति की सप्तधारा का आह्वान करता हूं। आने वाले 5-7 साल में, जो पिछले 5-7 दशकों में नहीं हो सका, वह हम इन सप्तधाराओं की शक्ति से कर दिखाएंगे।पहली धारा — मैन्युफैक्चरिंग शक्ति: लागत, गुणवत्ता और स्केल पर ध्यान। जीरो डिफेक्ट प्रिसिजन मैन्युफैक्चरिंग हमारी पहचान बने।दूसरी धारा — कृषि और खाद्य प्रसंस्करण: खेत से निर्यात बाजार तक। मिलेट्स, मसाले, फल-फूल को वैश्विक ब्रांड बनाएं।तीसरी धारा — तकनीक और नवाचार: AI, क्वांटम, स्पेस, रोबोटिक्स, डेटा सेंटर्स। भारत सिर्फ बाजार नहीं, इनोवेशन हब बने। मेड इन इंडिया 6G दुनिया में पहुंचे।चौथी धारा — गति शक्ति: हाई-स्पीड रेल, आधुनिक हाईवे, जलमार्ग, मल्टीमॉडल लॉजिस्टिक्स, पोर्ट-लेड डेवलपमेंट।पांचवी धारा — रक्षा शक्ति: रक्षा में आत्मनिर्भरता। ड्रोन, काउंटर-ड्रोन, हाइपरसोनिक तकनीक। साइबर सुरक्षा।छठी धारा — ग्रीन और ब्लू इकोनॉमी: ग्रीन हाइड्रोजन, नवीकरणीय ऊर्जा, ग्रीन मोबिलिटी। ब्लू इकोनॉमी — मत्स्य पालन, तटीय पर्यटन, महासागर तकनीक।सातवीं धारा — सॉफ्ट पावर: योग, आयुर्वेद, हस्तशिल्प, फिल्म, VFX, एनिमेशन, गेमिंग। WAVES समिट को आगे बढ़ाएं।युवाओं के लिए घोषणाएं: अगले एक साल में 1 करोड़ युवाओं को AI स्किल ट्रेनिंग। 1 लाख करोड़ रुपये का इनोवेशन फंड। प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं के लिए मुफ्त ऑनलाइन कोचिंग। महिलाओं को विधानसभा और लोकसभा में 33 प्रतिशत प्रतिनिधित्व शीघ्र सुनिश्चित करने का आह्वान सभी दलों से।आइए हर कदम को विकास का कदम बनाएं। एक दीप से जले दीप हजारों। आओ मिलकर विकसित भारत बनाएं।इसी एक भावना के साथ इस मंगल पर्व पर आप सबको अनेक-अनेक शुभकामनाएं।मेरे साथ बोलिए — भारत माता की जय! वंदे मातरम!
नोट: यह पाठ उपलब्ध आधिकारिक और विश्वसनीय स्रोतों से संकलित है। पूर्ण और सटीक आधिकारिक हिंदी पाठ के लिए PIB की वेबसाइट और प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय के आधिकारिक प्रकाशन देखें। TECHNOCRAAT / YTC Ventures द्वारा सार्वजनिक हित में प्रकाशित।
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