Create land banks, ensure good governance to woo investors: PM to states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged states to carry out necessary policy reforms, create land banks and ensure good governance and rule of law to attract foreign investments.

He appealed to the industry to improve the quality of India’s products, asking them to 'design in India, design for the world' and make 'Indian standard' a benchmark for international standard of quality.

Crime against women  

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 78th Independence Day, and in the context of the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata, the PM slammed incidents of crimes against women.

Modi said there is anger among the people about crimes against women and the state government should launch proper investigation to ensure exemplary punishment to perpetrators.

Secular civil code

He stressed the need for a debate in the country for India to transition from the “discriminatory communal civil code” to a “secular civil code” and implored political parties to support ‘one nation one election’ since frequent elections obstruct development.

Modi lashed out at people with “twisted minds” who “cannot tolerate India’s progress”, cautioning the country to be wary of them as they walk the path of anarchy and annihilation. He said at least a hundred thousand youths with no family background in politics should enter it from panchayats to the top echelons of India’s democracy to defeat dynastic politics and casteism. 

The PM also spoke of the concern in India over the developments in Bangladesh and for the safety and security of its minorities, especially the neighbouring country’s Hindu population.   

It was Modi’s first address from the Red Fort after being sworn in as the country’s prime minister for a third successive occasion, and his 11th such address overall since 2014.

Only prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi addressed the country from the Red Fort on more occasions. Modi thanked the people for “blessing” him, and he talked about his renewed commitment to serve the people.

The theme of his speech was the government’s efforts to accomplish the objective of Viksit Bharat by 2047. The leitmotif of his speech was the aspirations of the youth of the country, who he said were no longer satisfied with “incremental” progress and were ready to take a leap forward. PM Modi elaborated upon his government’s efforts at skilling the youth and referred to the internship programme that the Union Budget for FY 25 announced.

Modi said new employment and self-employment opportunities are being created for the youth. The PM said the Budget allocated ~1 trillion for research and innovation and there are plans to add 75,000 medical seats in the next five years, building on the 100,000 medical seats created in the last ten years. 

Call to industry

The PM spoke of his government’s semiconductor mission, and his government’s efforts to make India a hub of global manufacturing by leveraging its vast resources and skilled workforce.

He asked the industry to ‘design in India, design for the world’ by improving the quality of their products and set the ‘Indian standard’ as a benchmark for the ‘international standard’ in quality.

He said India had the opportunity to become a leader in the global gaming market.

The focus, he said, was now on green growth and green jobs, which will generate employment opportunities while contributing to environmental protection.

PLI and the art of attracting investments

The PM highlighted the success of the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme, India becoming the hub of mobile phone manufacturing and how international companies are queuing up to invest in India.

He said it was up to the state governments to compete and attract foreign investments by shaping clear policies, ensuring good governance and rule of law and even creating land banks.

Among the attendees at the Red Fort were Union cabinet ministers, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and people who had come from across the country. India’s medal winners at the Paris Olympics also attended the PM's address to the nation. The PM said it was India’s ambition to host the 2036 Olympics. He congratulated India’s athletes for their performance at the Paris Olympics.

Addressing the nation with his now customary ‘mere parivarjan’, or my family members, the PM highlighted the reforms undertaken by his government in the last 10 years to improve the ease of living of people. He said his government has strived to ensure saturation of services, such as electricity, water and gas supply and also welfare schemes, going beyond caste and religious distinctions. He said his government did away with the atmosphere of “status quo” that had existed previously.

Modi said his government has delivered big reforms. Highlighting the government’s commitment to reforms, he said discussion on reforms isn’t merely for the editorial pages of pink papers and neither is it his government’s “political compulsion” to carry out reforms, but it is borne out of “our resolve of nation first and national interest supreme”.

Women empowerment

The PM spoke of 100 million women joining women self- help groups and becoming self-reliant with 10 million having become ‘lakhpati didis’ and banks having disbursed loans worth Rs 9 trillion to the SHGs.

The PM urged 300,000 governance units of the government, from panchayats to civic bodies to state and Central government, and their employees to carry out at least two reforms a year, which would ensure 2.5 to 3 million reforms in a year across the country.

Modi, who inaugurated a campus at the Nalanda University in Bihar recently, said that there is a need to “reawaken the Nalanda spirit” for India to become a global education hub. He emphasised the importance of learning in the mother tongue.

The PM said India, as it progresses and develops, will face challenges from within and outside. He asked the world to remember India’s history and tradition where it has never been the aggressor. Modi reiterated that his fight against corruption and the corrupt will continue.

Modi said that to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047, India must walk the path ‘Swasth Bharat’ which has begun with the launch of Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyan. The PM reiterated India’s ambitious goal of achieving 500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. He said that India has been the only country among the G20 nations to meet its Paris Accord goals.