'India becoming a manufacturing hub': PM Modi lauds infrastructural advancements during Red Fort address on Independence Day

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today opined that India was well on its way to becoming a 'self-reliant' nation with new infrastructure and amenities. Hailing the digital India movement, he said that a 'complete transformation' of the education ecosystem, health infrastructure and quality of agricultural life would only be possible through digitalisation. Addressing the nation on India's 76th Independence Day, he also put forth five resolutions to make India a developed nation by its 100th year.

The PM's 2021 address from the ramparts of the Red Fort had spoken about the soon-to-be-launched National Infrastructure Master Plan or Gati Shakti Yojana. At the time, he had stressed the need to adopt ' a holistic and integrated approach in infrastructure' and dubbed it a 'huge scheme' that would "fulfill the dreams of crores of countrymen". While his address on Monday did not focus directly on the initiative, PM Modi asserted that Indian creations (such as Vande Bharat trains) were becoming 'objects of attraction for the world'.

"Right now, there is no coordination between our means of transport. Gati Shakti will break the silos, and will remove all these obstacles. This will reduce the travel time for the common man and the productivity of our industry will also increase. Gati Shakti will also go a long way in making our local manufacturers globally competitive and this will also develop new possibilities for the creation of future economic zones," he had said during his Independence Day address last year while announcing the impending launch of the program.

PM Gati Shakti brings 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects. According to its official government website, it will provide "integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services from one mode of transport to another", facilitate the last mile connectivity of infrastructure and reduce travel time.

"Through the Pradhan Mantri Gati-Shakti Yojana, all the modes of connectivity based on water, land, air etc. are being integrated in the whole country to enable seamless transportation across the country," President Smt Droupadi Murmu had noted a day earlier during her address on the eve of Independence Day.

During his Red Fort address the PM also put forth five pledges that the country needs to focus on for the next 25 years.

"The first pran is to move forward with bigger resolves and resolve of developed India. The second pran is to erase all traces of servitude. Even if we see the smallest things of servitude, inside us or nearby us, we have to get rid of them. The third is to take pride in our legacy. Four is the strength of unity for our dreams of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat'. The fifth pran is the duties of citizens which include the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers also. This is a big pranshakti for fulfilling the dreams of the country in the next 25 years," he said.