PrintFriendlyToday is also the festival of Raksha Bandhan. This centuries-old tradition expresses the love of brother and sister. I extend my best wishes to all the countrymen and all the brothers and sisters on this auspicious festival of Raksha Bandhan.
May this festival filled with affection fulfil the hopes, aspirations and dreams of all our brothers and sisters, and bring affection in their lives.
Today, while the country is celebrating the festival of independence, people in several parts of the country are facing difficulties due to floods and heavy rainfall. Many have lost their dear ones. I express my condolences to them.
The State Governments, the Central Government and other organizations like NDRF are striving day and night to ease the hardships and bring the situation under control.
Today, when we are celebrating this auspicious day of Independence, I pay my respects to all those who gave up their lives, who spent their youth in prisons, who embraced the gallows, who instilled the spirit of non-violence through Satyagraha for the freedom of the country.
The country gained independence under the leadership of Bapu. Similarly, in the years since independence numerous people have contributed for the peace, prosperity and security of the country.
Today, I also salute the people who have contributed to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the people, for the development, peace and prosperity of Independent India.
After the formation of the new government, I am humbled once again with the opportunity to interact with you. It has not even been 10 weeks since the formation of this new Government. But even in a short ten-week period, efforts have been made in all fields and in every direction, new dimensions have been added.
People have entrusted us to serve them so that they can achieve their hopes, expectations and aspirations. We are dedicated to your service with complete devotion, without wasting even a single moment.
To revoke Article 370 and 35A within 10 weeks is a significant step towards fulfilling the dream of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.
In just ten weeks, we made big ticket decisions like bringing about a law against Triple Talaq to protect the rights of our Muslim women, making major amendments in laws to counter terrorism and to make it more stringent and powerful; transfer of approximately 90,000 crores of rupees to the bank accounts of farmers who are beneficiaries of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
Our brothers and sisters from the farming community, our small entrepreneurs could never believe that they will ever be able to avail of pension schemes and live a dignified life even after they attain 60 Years, when they are physically weak and need some support. We have implemented a Pension Scheme to meet these needs.
Water crisis is a big concern these days. It is being predicted that an impending water crisis is staring us in the face.
Anticipating such a situation, we have announced the formation of a new dedicated Ministry of Jal Shakti where the Centre and States will together develop schemes and policies to address issues of water crisis.
Our country needs doctors in huge numbers along with robust health facilities. To fulfil this requirement we need new laws, upgraded infrastructure, new thinking and create new opportunities to motivate the youth to take up the medical profession. In view of this, we have formulated laws and taken important steps to bring transparency in Medical Education.
Now a days we come across incidents of child rights violation all over the world and India will not leave her children vulnerable. A much warranted stringent law to protect child rights was needed and has been enacted.
Brothers and sisters, you gave me an opportunity to serve you all for five years from 2014-2019. We took cognizance of the struggles faced by the common man to avail the basic facilities. Over the past five years, our government has been striving to provide the facilities to meet the daily needs of the common man.
Special efforts have been made to facilitate those living in villages, and those who are poor, marginalized, victimized, exploited, deprived and tribals. We are working relentlessly in this direction to bring the nation back on track towards development. But times change. While 2014-2019 was a period of fulfilling your basic needs, the years from 2019 and beyond will see your aspirations and dreams getting fulfilled.