New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people on the country’s 77th Independence Day and delivered his 10th consecutive Independence Day address on Tuesday (August 15) at the historic Red Fort in Delhi. In his address, PM Modi hailed the government’s and citizens’ contributions towards creating awareness about the importance of renewable energy, the ancient physical practice of Yoga, fighting climate change, and successfully conducting COVID vaccination drives across several states.
Here are the key highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech:
- PM Modi lauded India’s efforts towards creating awareness about renewable energy and reiterated the vision of ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’. The One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative was put forth by PM Modi at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018. Its aim is to aid in developing a worldwide grid through which clean energy can be transmitted anywhere, anytime (use power at night in one part of the world from solar energy generated on the other side of the world where it is day time).
- India aims to have 500 GW of non-fossil fuel based power generation capacity by 2030. Currently, the country has 178 GW of renewable energy capacity, which includes 71 GW of solar, 44 GW of wind energy, and 47 GW of large hydroelectric capacity.
- India has shown its efforts to ensure energy security and a green future and achieving its renewable energy target nine years ahead of schedule, by installing solar energy capacity and increasing it 26 times in these years.
- India paved the way to fight climate change by launching Mission #LiFE-‘Lifestyle for the Environment’ and making the International Solar Alliance, of which many countries have become members.
- Yoga and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) are being acknowledged across the globe as holistic healthcare. The government has also established a separate Ayush Ministry to revive and promote the knowledge of India’s ancient systems of health and medicine.
- The world also saw India’s potential in the way it fought against the coronavirus crisis and ran the nationwide vaccination drive. The Anganwadi, ASHA, and health workers helped the country to successfully administer 200 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
- India has also advocated the well-being of humans, animals, and plants equally with respect to diseases through ‘One Earth, One Health’ approach.
- The central government has invested Rs 70,000 crore in the Ayushman Bharat scheme to provide a Rs 5 lakh annual health guarantee to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The investment is to accentuate the efforts of the government to improve universal health coverage in the country.
- To make quality generic medications available to the general public at affordable prices, the centre set up various Jan Aushadhi Kendras. It has given new strength to the middle class of the country by saving Rs 20,000 crore, the PM added. He said that the government aims to increase the number of Kendras to 25,000 from the present 10,000.
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(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
