By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-08-15 06:52:03 | Updated at 2026-08-15 07:01:59
46 minutes ago
New Delhi – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day speech to renew his pledge to make the country a developed nation within two decades and reach out to younger citizens following widespread student protests.
“Our dream is that when India celebrates 100 years of independence, it touches new heights,” Modi said in his address from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on Aug 15.
His government has long set 2047, the centenary of India’s independence from British rule, as the target for achieving developed-economy status.
In a speech lasting more than an hour, Modi laid out his priorities for the next stage of growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, spanning manufacturing, agriculture, technology, infrastructure, defence, green energy and soft power. He stressed the need for greater self-reliance in those areas and reiterated a series of ambitious targets.
“The country will have up to eight more chip plants in the next seven to eight years,” Modi said. He also said India aims to start five nuclear reactors.
In 2025, Modi’s government allowed private firms to build and operate atomic power projects as it pursues an ambitious goal of expanding nuclear power capacity eleven-fold to 100 gigawatts by 2047.
Modi also highlighted India’s efforts to forge more partnerships on critical minerals and develop alternative sources of energy, part of a broader push to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.
Modi’s confidence is echoed by other Indian officials.
When the Iran-US war erupted, it dealt a major economic shock to India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer. As oil bills surged and the rupee plunged to record lows, Modi even urged citizens at the time to cut fuel use and limit travel to help reduce the country’s energy costs and save precious foreign exchange.
Five months later, officials sound more upbeat. Fears of an inflation spike and an economic downturn that was feared are yet to materialise.
“India will move toward next level reforms in the coming years,” Modi said.
Engaging students
The speech comes weeks after widespread student protests over exam irregularities put Modi’s government on the back foot. Modi reached out to young Indians on Aug 15, saying they would be among the main beneficiaries of the government’s growth push.
The prime minister also announced free online coaching for students preparing for competitive exams.
Private coaching centres have proliferated across India in recent decades, with millions of students relying on them to prepare for fiercely competitive entrance tests for elite colleges and government jobs. Leaks in some of those exams in 2026 sparked massive protests in July led by the Cockroach Janta Party, a satirical website-turned-pressure group.
The demonstrations forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the first cabinet minister to step down under public pressure during Modi’s 12 years in power.
The government in recent days introduced tougher penalties for paper leaks and set up a high-powered task force to overhaul how the world’s most populous nation conducts competitive examinations.
In his speech, Modi also announced the government’s plan to train 10 million youth on AI skills in the next one year in order to prepare them for jobs. He did not provide any other details.
While India has been one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies for years, it has struggled to create enough quality jobs for the millions of young people entering the workforce. Unemployment among 15- to 24-year-olds has averaged about 20 per cent, compared with 16 per cent among its middle-income peers, according to Bloomberg Economics.
The joblessness is mainly concentrated among graduates and postgraduates, with more than a third unemployed, the analysts added. That challenges the conventional expectation that higher education improves job prospects. Bloomberg
