New Delhi: Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of the 80th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced good news for the country’s youth and students, unveiling three major initiatives aimed at unlocking young talent and positioning India at the forefront of the global stage.
Referring to the India AI Summit held in February this year, the Prime Minister announced that one crore young people across the country would be given free training in the latest artificial intelligence technologies over the coming year. He also said that, to ease the financial burden of thousands of crores of rupees that poor and middle-class parents currently bear due to private coaching centers, the government would introduce free online coaching backed by quality teachers and a digital network.
With the 2036 Olympics as the target, PM Modi said the government would identify talented children between the ages of 5 and 15 at the grassroots level and provide them with world-class sports coaching. He noted that the Olympics comprise nearly 350 events across about 40 sporting disciplines, and expressed regret that India currently fails to even qualify for roughly two-thirds of these events.
Alongside these initiatives, the Prime Minister also outlined other key decisions in his address, including the formation of new civil defense forces for national security, an expansion of semiconductor manufacturing plants, and a target of generating 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047.
Making further remarks, PM Modi said that while the discourse around globalization has faded worldwide, India is now drawing global attention through its own capabilities. He said that, backed by a strong judicial system and economic stability, India has entered into key trade agreements with 40 countries around the world since 2014.
The Prime Minister called for the central and state governments to work together in pursuit of the Viksit Bharat goal, stating that the country possesses all the resources needed and is rapidly emerging as a digital innovation hub. He asserted that India’s development journey would neither stop nor slow down, and praised the critical role of the country’s youth and women in shaping its future.