In his Independence Day speech on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India should take a pledge to become a developed country by 2047 – the 100th year of independence.
The prime minister urged citizens of the country to work towards achieving the “panch pran”, or five pledges, in the next 25 years. Apart from making India a developed country, the citizens should remove traces of colonial mindset, take pride in their roots, forge unity and inculcate a sense of duty, Modi said.
“We need to now move with a renewed focus and resolve for the next 25 years, and this can be made possible through the strength and determination of 130 crore Indians,” the prime minister said in his ninth Independence Day speech from the Red Fort in Delhi.
The prime minister called upon state governments to work in the spirit of “cooperative competitive federalism”. There should be a competition among states and various units of the government to achieve newer heights of development, he said.
“Programmes can be different, working style can be different, but dreams for the country cannot be different,” Modi said. “It is the need of the hour that besides cooperative federalism, we need cooperative competitive federalism. We need competition in development.”
Modi also listed corruption and nepotism as the two big challenges facing India. He said that nepotism was prevalent not just in politics, but in every institution of the country.
“We need to give opportunities to those who are talented and will work for the progress of the nation,” he said. “Talent will be the basis of New India.”
On corruption, the prime minister said that while citizens express anger on the matter, their discontent is not directed towards the corrupt persons.
“Until and unless, people have the mentality of penalising the corrupt, the nation cannot progress at an optimum pace,” he said.
Modi said he could sense that aspirations of the citizens were on the rise and they do not want the next generations to wait for it.
“Every citizen wants a change, wants to see it happening in front of their eyes and is not ready to wait anymore,” the prime minister said.
He stressed that the Centre, states and self-governance institutions should work to address the demands of the aspirational society.
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