Today, on Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, I pay homage to all those who lost their lives during Partition , and applaud the resilience as well as grit of all those who suffered during that tragic period of our history.
On World Elephant Day, reiterating our commitment to protect the elephant. You would be happy to know that India houses about 60% of all Asian elephants. The number of elephant reserves has risen in the last 8 years. I also laud all those involved in protecting elephants.
The successes in elephant conservation must be viewed in context of the larger efforts underway in India to minimise human-animal conflict, and integrating local communities and their traditional wisdom in furthering environmental consciousness.
The just-concluded 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai witnessed encouraging performances by the Indian contingent.
I congratulate the India B team (Men’s) and India A team (Women’s) for winning the Bronze Medal.
This augurs well for the future of Chess in India.
I congratulate D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Arjun Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Divya Deshmukh from our contingent who won board medals.
These are outstanding players who have shown remarkable grit and tenacity.
“Biofuel is synonymous to protecting nature – Biofuel for us is green and environment-saving fuel”
“Political selfishness and politics of short cuts can never solve the problems permanently”
“Selfish announcements of freebies will prevent the country from becoming self-reliant, increase burden on honest taxpayers and prevent investment in new technologies”
“In the next few years, more than 75 percent of the households in the country will get piped gas”
Remembering all those who took part in the Quit India Movement under Bapu’s leadership and strengthened our freedom struggle.
Here is picture of Mahatma Gandhi at the start of the Quit India Movement in Bombay. (Sourced from the Nehru Memorial Collection)
“August 9 has become a burning symbol of our national revolution” said Loknayak JP. Inspired by Bapu, the Quit India Movement witnessed remarkable participation from people across all sections of society including greats like JP and Dr. Lohia.
PM Modi’s remarks during farewell ceremony of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu in Rajya Sabha :
When we mark 15th August this year, it be an Independence Day when the President, VP, Speaker and PM would have been born after Independence. And that too, each of them belongs to very simple backgrounds.
As our Vice President, you devoted a lot of time to youth welfare. A lot of your programmes were focused on Yuva Shakti.
I have worked with M Venkaiah Naidu Ji closely over the years. I have also seen him take up different responsibilities and he performed each of them with great dedication.
The one liners of M Venkaiah Naidu Ji are famous. They are wit liners. His command over the languages has always been great.
There is both depth and substance in what M Venkaiah Naidu Ji says.
One of the admirable things about Venkaiah Naidu Ji is his passion towards Indian languages. This was reflected in how he presided over the House. He contributed to increased productivity of the Rajya Sabha.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today heralded the collective efforts of all the States in the spirit of cooperative federalism as the force that helped India emerge from the Covid pandemic.
Addressing the seventh meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of NITI Aayog, the Prime Minister said, “Every State played a crucial role according to its strength and contributed to India’s fight against Covid. This led to India emerging as an example for the developing nations to look up to as a global leader.”
This was the first physical meeting of the Governing Council since the onset of the pandemic, with the 2021 meeting held via video conferencing. The meeting was attended by 23 Chief Ministers, 3 Lieutenant Governors and 2 Administrators and Union Ministers. The meeting was moderated by Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.
In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister said India’s federal structure and cooperative federalism emerged as a model for the world during the Covid crisis. He said that India had sent a powerful message to the developing nations of the world—that it is possible to overcome challenges with resilience despite resource limitations. The PM said that the credit for this goes to the State Governments, which focused on grassroots delivery of public services to the people through cooperation across political lines.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the seventh meeting was a culmination of months of rigorous brainstorming and consultations between the Centre and States to identify national priorities. “For the first time in India’s 75 years of independence, all of India’s Chief Secretaries met together in one place and deliberated issues of national importance for three days. This collective process led to the development of the agenda for this meeting,” the PM said.
This year, the Governing Council discussed four key agenda items:
(i) crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in pulses, oilseeds and other agri-commodities;
(ii) implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in school education;
(iii) implementation of National Education Policy in higher education; and
(iv) urban governance.
The Prime Minister highlighted the importance of all of the above issues, especially the need for India to focus on modernized agriculture, animal husbandry, and food processing to become self-sufficient and a global leader in the agriculture sector. He said rapid urbanization can become India’s strength instead of weakness by leveraging technology to ensure ease of living, transparent service delivery, and improvement in the quality of life for every citizen of urban India.
The PM also spoke about India’s G20 presidency in 2023 and called it a unique opportunity to show the world that India is not just Delhi—it is every State and Union Territory of the country. The PM said we should develop a mass movement around G20. This will allow us to identify the best talent available in the country. He also said there should be a dedicated team for G20 in the States to derive the maximum possible benefit from this initiative.
Speaking about this, the Union Minister of External Affairs, Shri S. Jaishankar, said, “The G20 Presidency presents a great opportunity and a great responsibility. For the first time in the history of G20, India will host the G20 meetings over the year, not only in Delhi, but in every State and Union Territory.”
While highlighting several initiatives undertaken to boost learning outcomes, capacity-building of teachers, and skilling, Union Minister of Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, thanked and requested further support of the States for the successful implementation of the National Education Policy.
Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Bery, reiterated that India’s transformation has to take place in its states. He reaffirmed the need for the combined efforts of the Centre and States to realize the vision of a resurgent India post the pandemic.
Every Chief Minister and Lt Governor present at the meeting addressed the meeting, highlighting the priorities, achievements, and challenges of their respective States and Union Territories with a special focus on the four key agenda items.
In his closing remarks, the Prime Minister said that each state should focus on promoting its 3Ts, Trade, Tourism, Technology, through every Indian Mission around the world. He said the States must focus on reducing imports, increasing exports and identifying opportunities for the same in every state. “We should encourage people to use local goods wherever possible,” he said. ‘Vocal for local’ is not the agenda of an individual political party but a common goal, he said.
The PM said even though GST collection has improved, our potential is much more. “Increasing GST collection requires collective action by the Centre and States. It is crucial for strengthening our economic position and becoming a USD 5 trillion economy,” he said. Speaking on the National Education Policy, the PM said the NEP has been formulated after considerable deliberations. He said we should involve all stakeholders in its implementation and develop a clear, timebound roadmap for the same.
He expressed his gratitude to the CMs and LGs for participating in the meeting and sharing their views and experiences. He said NITI Aayog will study the states’ concerns, challenges, and best practices and subsequently plan the way forward. He said the issues discussed in this meeting will define the national priorities for the next 25 years, adding that the seeds we sow today will define the fruits reaped by India in 2047.
The Principal Secretary to the PM, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Members and CEO, the Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries (DoPT, Culture, DoSE&L, Higher Education &MoHUA), Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories, and other senior officers from the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, NITI Aayog attended the seventh meeting.
Would be chairing the 7th Governing Council meet of NITI Aayog tomorrow, 7th August.
This forum provides a great opportunity for the Centre and states to exchange views on key policy related issues and strengthen India’s growth trajectory.
Congratulations to Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji on being elected India’s Vice President with resounding support across party lines.
I am confident he will be an outstanding Vice President.
Our nation will gain tremendously from his intellect and wisdom.
I thank all those MPs who have voted for Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji.
At a time when India marks Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, we are proud to be having a Kisan Putra Vice President who has excellent legal knowledge and intellectual prowess.
The last two days were spent in amazing programmes in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu which covered sports, FinTech, development works and education…Here are the highlights.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will participate in the Grand Finale marking the culmination of ‘Ujjwal Bharat Ujjwal Bhavishya – Power @2047’ on 30th July at 12:30 PM via video conferencing.
During the programme, Prime Minister will launch the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme. He will dedicate and lay the foundation stone of various green energy projects of NTPC. He will also launch the National Solar rooftop portal.
Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the government has taken multiple path breaking initiatives in the power sector. These reforms have transformed the sector, with the focus being on making affordable power available for all.
Electrification of about 18,000 villages which did-not have access to power earlier signified the commitment of the government towards ensuring last mile outreach.
In a historic initiative, Prime Minister will launch the Ministry of Power’s flagship Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme, which is aimed at improving the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of the DISCOMs and Power Departments.
With an outlay of over Rs. 3 lakh crore over a period of five years from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26, the scheme aims to provide financial assistance to DISCOMs for modernization and strengthening of distribution infrastructure, focussing on improvement of the reliability and quality of supply to end consumers.
It also aims to reduce the AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% and ACS-ARR (Average Cost of Supply – Average Revenue Realized) gap to zero by 2024-25 by improving the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of all state-sector DISCOMs and Power Departments.
Prime Minister will also launch national solar rooftop portal, which will enable online tracking of the process of installation of rooftop solar plants, starting from registering the applications to release of subsidy in residential consumers’ bank accounts after installation and inspection of the plant.