Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a comprehensive set of initiatives and targets during his Independence Day address from the Red Fort, covering multiple sectors critical to India's development trajectory.
Key Announcements and Targets
The Prime Minister announced AI skilling for one crore youth over the next year, recognizing the rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence and aiming to equip India's youth with capabilities to lead in this field. In education, he announced free online coaching for youth preparing for various examinations through Digital Public Infrastructure that will bring together available talent and teachers to create a complete network, addressing the financial burden of coaching classes on poor and middle-class families.
For sports development, a nationwide talent hunt campaign will be conducted across villages, cities, and schools to identify sporting talent among children aged 5-15 years. Identified children will receive specialized training to develop them into players capable of representing the country, with particular emphasis on Olympic disciplines where India currently does not participate or qualify.
Infrastructure and Security Initiatives
Addressing modern security challenges, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a vibrant Civil Defence network, noting that warfare is no longer confined to borders and can affect refineries, banking sector, data centers, factories, and other infrastructure. Citizens will be familiarized with modern systems, and a large voluntary Civil Defence force capable of dealing with contemporary challenges will be developed, replacing outdated arrangements from previous centuries.
Energy and Technology Sector Targets
In the semiconductor sector, the Prime Minister highlighted India's progress toward self-reliance, noting that three semiconductor plants have already started with production being exported. He announced plans for another five to eight semiconductor plants to be established within the next seven to eight years, describing self-reliance in semiconductors as a pathway toward Viksit Bharat.
For nuclear energy, India has set an ambitious target of achieving 100 GW nuclear power capacity by 2047, with plans to start five new nuclear reactors within this decade. The Prime Minister highlighted the growing energy requirements of chips, AI, and data centers, emphasizing the importance of energy security. He noted that India achieved an important milestone this year in fast breeder nuclear technology, marking significant progress toward self-reliance in nuclear fuel.
Women-Led Development
The Prime Minister announced a new target of creating six crore Lakhpati Didis, noting that the earlier target of three crore had been surpassed. The creation of an additional three crore Lakhpati Didis is expected to bring about major transformation in the rural economy through women's empowerment and economic participation.