Highlights of Prime Minister Modi's previous Independence Day speeches

From the Clean India campaign to tackling terrorism, Narendra Modi's I-Day speeches have dealt with a gamut of issues

Stressing on the need to have good governance along with providing qualitative services to the citizens of the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech at the Red Fort in New Delhi, said that it was time that we moved from Swarajya (self rule) to Surajya (good rule).

The prime minister's speech also focused on specific issues like taxation, the Goods and Services Tax, terrorism, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and even included a reference to the troubled Pakistani province of Balochistan. 

Modi has turned the custom of the prime minister's Independence Day speech in to an exercise in defining the broad direction in which the government intends to move, announcing major schemes and exhorting the common people to do their bit.

Here are the highlights of Prime Minister Modi's previous Independence Day speeches:

1) Modi's 2014 Independence Day speech highlights: 

• Announced doing away with the Planning Commission
• Announced the PM Jan Dhan Yojana to provide bank accounts to tall
• Announced the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, asking MPs to adopt villages
• Announced the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or clean India campaign
• Announced that the govt would construct toilets in schools
• Announced the 'Make in India' initiative with the slogan 'zero defect, zero effect (on environment)'
• Announced the Digital India and Skill India initiatives
• Announced the 'Beti bachao, beti padhao' campaign
• Appealed for 10 year moratorium on communal violence
• Said that he was an outsider to Delhi and described himself as the "pradhan sevak" instead of the prime minister

2) Modi's 2015 Independence Day speech highlights: 

• Announced 'Stand Up India', 'Start Up India' initiatives
• Announced electricity to 18,000 un-electrified villages within 1,000 days
• Committed that govt would look to find ways to do away with interviews in recruitment of govt 'C' and 'D' category jobs
• Detailed govt steps on black money, booking corrupt govt officials
• Stressed on financial inclusion
• Gave a report card on Jan Dhan Yojana, said 17 crore accounts opened in one year
• Said that the target of constructing 4.25 lakh toilets achieved