LIVE: PM Modi coins Make In India mantra, scraps Planning Commission

8.40 am: A final plea to work together, resolve to go forward. We were together during freedom struggle and we won, it is the need of the hour to fight poverty in a similar way, says Modi. Not just India, the SAARC nations can together fight poverty, the prime minister adds. He then returns to the theme he started his speech with– that is is India’s pradhaan sevak. Work 12 hours, he tells his government.“I will work 13 hours. You work 14 hours, I will work 15.” Just before a rousing rendition of the national anthem, the anticipated Modi-style ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ chants go up. 8.30 am: Modi announces the scrapping of the Planning Commission. A new institution will be set up in its place, with “creative thinking on public-private partnerships, optimum utilisation of resources, giving direction to state governments, an organisation that will strengthen federalism and more” according to the prime minister. This new institution that will replace the Planning Commission will have a new direction, new blood, new thought, he adds. There has been much speculation about the future of the Planning Commission. This body was set up  at a time when it had a relevant role, explains Modi. “But financial planning has grown out of the scope of central government.”   8.22 am: What kind of PM speaks of toilets from Red Fort? Narendra Modi has done it again, spoken of the unmentionable. “What kind of PM speaks of toilets from Red Fort?” That could well be the most powerful comment in his address until now. Despite the ambitious policy announcements and new mantras such as Make in India and Digital India, it’s Modi’s impassioned plea for toilets and total sanitation that touches a deep chord. Toilets in schools, toilets for girl students, use of MPLAD funds solely for building toilets, ensuring rural women do not have to “go” in the open, reducing vulnerabilities among women forced to use the outdoors, improving health through sanitation – why didn’t any previous PM speak so directly about India’s biggest blot in the 21st century, open defecation? 8.20 am: Modi: I dream of a Digital India The sheer range of subjects the prime minister has covered in 45 minutes is mind-boggling. From female foeticide to rape, from governance to manufacturing. He’s now talking about a “digital India”, Apart from the uses of digitisation, from e-governance to long distance education, the prime minister is also making a pitch for manufacturing in the electronic sector. A digital India can be a world-beating India. Some images of the dazzling ceremony at Red Fort are here. [caption id=“attachment_1665441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Modi saluting after hoisting the flag[/caption] 8.07 am: Now it’s time for the announcements of schemes and projects * The first to be unveiled is the ambitious scheme to bring banking services to every Indian. The Jan Dhan Yojana will aim to open bank accounts for all, link poorest of the poor with banking. * Skill Development Mission is next: Crores of Indians to be given technological skills, entrepreneurial skills. “I want to prepare a country of youth with skills that will build the country, and change the world,” Modi says. This is a thrust on job creation. * The natural next step is a focus on manufacturing. “I want to tell the world, come, make-in-India,” he announces, inviting foreign investment in manufacturing chemicals, automobiles, agro-businesses, paper, coffee, submarines and more. “We have skills, we have strength, we have people,” he says. “Come, make in India.” Our dream should be that products used across the world should be made-in-India, he adds. 8.00 am: Don’t sacrifice your daughters in the hope of a boy Next on Modi’s agenda is the skewed sex ratio – 940 girls to every 1,000 boys. Have you not seen families where parents have five sons but are living in an old age home, the prime minister asks. Delivering an emotional, anguished plea against female foeticide, Modi says: Our Independence Day is occasion to celebrate our successes. Among our sportspersons bringing us glory is a large number of women, he points out. He is referring to the 29 female athletes who won medals at the Commonwealth Games. 7.56 am: Do you ask your boys where they are off to? A thousand brownie points for this, from women across the nation: The prime minister says parents have a responsibility to put some of the pressures they exert on their daughters on their sons too. “Rapists are somebody’s sons too… I ask parents of errant boys, did you ever talk to your sons before he took this path,” Modi says. Is this a clever reference to Uttar Padesh? In any case, it is a strong statement from the prime minister condemning the rising incidence of rape and sexual violence. He then addresses those indulging in violence – there is nothing on the road of hinsa. caste or communal violence, neither has got us anywhere, he says. 7.52 am: One goal, one platform, one direction How low have we fallen that officers going to office on time has become national news? The processes of governance need to be strengthened, he says. Is such change possible? “I couldn’t have said this on May 26. but with two months’ experience, standing below the national flag, I can tell you: This is possible.” Gesticulating, pointing, raising his arms expansively, modulating his voice, mimicking officers’ language – this is vintage Narendra Modi. The prime minister says this “mera kya, mujhe kya” attitude of Indians has to be jettisoned. “Let us rise above this,” he says, sounding quite like JFK saying ask not what your country can do for you… 7.45 am: Not majoritarianism, I want unanimity and consensus, says Modi The prime minister is busting some popular perceptions of this government. We won’t rule with the sheer brute strength of majority, he says, adding that he wants to take the nation forward with decisions that are unanimous, that have the “I am an outsider in Delhi. I Don’t know the system here. I am so far removed from the elite class of this city. But an outsider has in two months got an insider’s view,” he says. “This is not a platform for politics, this is a platform for nation-building.” There is immediate applause. He is now berating intra-governmental squabbling and litigation. Applause continues at various points Modi is making. When he makes a mention of the contribution of former PMs, there is loud applause. 7.33 am: The Pradhaan Sevak, minus bullet-proof glass around him, begins his address The Prime Minister gets loud applause as he starts: I am not your Pradhaan Mantri, he starts. “I have come as your Pradhaan Sevak, your chief server.” As reported, he is not reading out a speech. This is Modi having a heart to heart with millions, the backward classes, the economically underprivileged and others, to whom he says this day should be a day of inspiration. “This country was not made by governors and governments. This country was made by farmers, labourers, our youth, the rishis, munis, scientists, generations of them.” 7.30 am: A historic moment as Modi unfurls the tricolour Wearing a bandhej turban, Modi unfurls the national tricolour. Some may remember Congress leader Digvijay Singh claiming last year that the country would not see this moment. Well, Modi has just proven him wrong. The historic speech will start in moments. 7.24 am: Modi inspects Guard of Honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived at Red Fort. He has inspected the Guard of Honour and walks through the historic Lahori gate to where the flag will be unfurled in the central courtyard. As ever Doordarshan does a smashing job with coverage of the August 15 celebrations with specially placed cameras. 7.14 am: 10,000-strong security in place around Red Fort As Doordarshan airs its promised two-minute spot on the prime minister, another first this Independence Day, heres a look at security around the venue just minutes before Modi arrives. There is a multi-layered security ring in place – 10,000-strong, ranging from men on the ground to snipers and air surveillance, a ground-to-air apparatus. Some 5,000 personnel from the local police, Special Cell and Security wing of the Delhi Police will also be pressed into service. Sharpshooters of NSG and spotters will be deployed on the high-rises near the 17th century Mughal fort, officials said. 7.10 am:Speech to start at 7.32 am For those just waking up to a long weekend, a very happy Independence Day! Here is the schedule. He will arrive at Red Fort at precisely 7.20 am.Having greeted dignitaries, he will unfurl the tricolour at 7.30 am. His address to the nation begins at 7.32 am. 7:00 am, August 15: PMs I-Day greetings Seldom has an Independence Day address been so breathlessly anticipated. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort in the national capital in a short while form now, he will be the first ever address delivered by a Prime Minister born after Independence. It will also be the first in 10 years to be delivered by a PM not from the Congress party. Also for the first time in a very long time, the nation will be addressed by a powerful and charismatic orator. [caption id=“attachment_1660515” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PM Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] News reports have suggested it could also be the first ever Indpendence Day speech to be delivered at least partly extempore. While the PM reportedly wants to deliver an entirely spontaneous address, bureaucrats have advised that speaking without a translated speech circulated among the several foreign dignitaries expected to attend could leave them rather at sea. Government sources later said a team of officials from Press Information Bureau, along with translators, has been lined up for immediate conversion of the address into a written transcript. At 6.45 am, the prime minister tweeted an I-day greeting to followers: May our tricolour fly high,he said.Hopes are running high for a historic speech.