Independence Day Speech: National Digital Health Mission is "completely technology-based" initiative that will revolutionise the health sector, the PM said

PM Modi also said during his Independence Day speech that Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India has become the mantra of the 1.3 billion Indians have taken the resolve to transform the country even while facing several setbacks, including the coronavirus pandemic and natural disasters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation during Independence Day celebrations at the historic Red Fort in Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday delivered a sharp message to two of India’s neighbours, China and Pakistan, declaring that the armed forces deployed along the borders with the two countries have given a fitting reply to those who sought to challenge India’s sovereignty.

Like in previous years, PM Modi’s 90-minute Independence Day address to the nation did not name Pakistan, or China. But as he wrapped up his speech that had extensively focused on the campaign to build a self-reliant India, the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort underlined that the country’s sovereignty is supreme.

“The world has seen in Ladakh what our brave soldiers can do to deliver on this resolve. From LoC (Line of Control) to the (Line of Actual Control), the country’s armed forces have given a fitting response to countries that threatened the country’s territorial sovereignty,” PM Modi said in his Independence Day speech.

It was a reference to the standoff at the east Ladakh border that has continued for more than 100 days and violent scrap on June 15 when Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) soldiers blocked attempts by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to expand its territory.