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News18
a day ago
- Business
- News18
Opinion: Modi's Red Fort Arch – From Basics Of Past To Blocks Of Future
Last Updated: From toilets to chips, from appeals to delivery, today's Red Fort vow by Modi declares a simple creed - India will build what it dreams, and defend what it builds 'By the end of this very year, a Made-in-India chip, built in India by the people of India, will arrive in the market." That single line from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 12th Independence Day address today captures the audacity of India's new horizon. Eleven years ago, his first Red Fort speech dwelled on toilets, sanitation and the shame of open defecation; he pleaded with MPs and companies to help build school toilets so daughters wouldn't drop out. That was what India of 2014 needed – fixing basics and restoring dignity. A task which should have been completed in the first few decades of Independence itself but needed a Narendra Modi 70 years later to mainstream the topics, build a mass movement and then deliver. Fast forward just 11 years and today's India is gearing up to build its own semiconductors, homegrown AI platforms, indigenous jet engines and an Iron Dome-like Sudarshan Chakra — because all the necessary basics have not just been painstakingly built but also delivered. Consider the new aspirational promises that punctuated Modi's 103-minute address. First, semiconductors, mission mode, time-bound. Modi didn't speak of a distant aspiration; he set a deadline: a Made-in-India chip this year. After 'losing 50–60 years" to missed chances, India under Modi has 'freed ourselves from this burden" and moved into execution gear. This is not techno-jingoism; it's strategic sovereignty. Chips are the arteries of the modern economy – phones, cars, power grids, missiles. If India can design and ship credible nodes at scale, it will de-risk supply chains, lift manufacturing GVA, and anchor deep R&D jobs at home. The choice of Red Fort for this pledge wasn't mere symbolism; it was a sovereign statement. Second, a 'double Diwali" through next-generation GST reforms. 'We are bringing next-generation GST reforms. This will reduce the tax burden across the country," the PM said, explicitly signalling that daily-use items will get cheaper and relief will flow to MSMEs. An under-appreciated aspect of GST is the equitable economic development it brings since it incentivises tax at consumption site and not at manufacturing site. Further simplifying GST and reducing taxes will benefit the Eastern states, the least economically developed, the most. Third, a jobs push with the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana, a Rs 1 lakh-crore programme launched with immediate effect that offers Rs 15,000 to youth who secure their first private-sector job, and incentives for employers. The target: 3.5 crore job opportunities. Apart from job creation, the scheme will further incentivise formalisation of the job market and create a whole new generation of consumers and economy drivers. Fourth, the new security doctrine and technology depth. Modi drew a line in the sand to end strategic ambiguity: 'India will no longer tolerate nuclear blackmail." He coupled that with a warning that terrorists and their enablers are one and the same, and with a reiteration that India will not resume the old Indus Water status quo that disadvantaged India's own farmers. The language deployed by Modi was one of unambiguous clarity: a public doctrine of deterrence, retaliation, and the primacy of national interest. Clarity, though, is not enough; capability must follow. Enter Mission Sudarshan Chakra — an indigenous, Iron Dome-like, multi-layered national shield to protect strategic and civilian sites and, crucially, to punish aggressors. Having spectacularly demonstrated its air defence systems in a live shooting match during Operation Sindoor, at a geographical scale at which no other country has done before, India already carries the heft to make good on this aspirational target. Fifth, an economically reformed state. Alongside GST 2.0, the PM announced a Task Force for next-generation reforms to slash red tape, align laws to twenty-first-century needs, and push India toward Viksit Bharat by 2047. Instead of relying on the usual internal government machinery, the creation of a task force is a clear demonstration of political will and determination to get the reforms done in a specific time frame. Sixth, a Prime Ministerial declaration to build India's own jet engine. Operation Sindoor distilled a lesson across the board: self-reliance in munitions and platforms is no longer optional. Modi thus explicitly urged young scientists and engineers to build indigenous jet engines for Indian fighters. Given the declaratory impact of a Red Fort Speech, that too from a person with proven track record of Modi, in time this could be like the Moon Mission target, which will not just spur achievement of the main target but many spin-offs as well. Seventh, in energy, PM Modi spoke of a ten-fold expansion of nuclear capacity by 2047, the only scalable, low-carbon baseload that can partner with renewables for a 10-trillion-dollar economy. And in space, he saluted Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's ISS mission and affirmed India's march toward a home-grown space station – lighthouse programme that knits together materials science, robotics, life-support tech and private launch ecosystems. Eighth, and indeed equally important is the announcement of Demography Mission. Gone is the squeamishness of addressing head on, a sustained 'invasion' (as the Supreme Court once described it), to irreversibly change India's civilisation. The impact of PM Modi promising it from Red Fort will percolate down the entire enforcement machinery and will come with the necessary political will as well as with the stamp of a national mission rather than isolated local level efforts. However, none of this in 2025 would land with such force if India hadn't journeyed so far since 2014. Re-read that first Red Fort speech of PM Modi: 'Has it ever pained us that our mothers and sisters have to defecate in the open? … I call upon [everyone] to provide toilets in schools… so our daughters are not compelled to leave." That appeal, and the intent behind it to get the basics first, informed by decades of experiential learning of a ground level activist, seeded Swachh Bharat, Ujjwala, Jan Dhan, Aadhaar-enabled DBT, rural electrification and basic housing—a decade of inclusionary plumbing without which the high-tech frontier talk today would have been performative. The last decade spent in fixing the basics gives Modi the credibility to deliver on the promises made today – for both delivery mechanism knows Modi means business and the people at large trust Modi's sequencing and timing. There is also a politics of confidence at work. Today's Modi blended welfare (a direct transfer for first jobs), tax relief (GST 2.0), strategic autonomy (semiconductors, jet engines, nuclear and space), and hard-nosed security (Sudarshan Chakra, doctrine against blackmail). In other words: growth with guardrails. The narrative is no longer defensive–'we will catch up"-but declarative: India will set its own terms, build within its borders what it must, and compete on the frontier. That stance is amplified, not diminished, by global turbulence. In 2014, Modi called himself the 'first servant", promising to work longer hours than the people he led. In 2025, he sounded like the chief product manager of a state-scale startup, shipping features on a tight release cycle: chip this year, GST 2.0 by Diwali, jobs scheme today, reform task force now, an air-defence platform on the roadmap, and a doctrine that tells adversaries where the red lines are. That's not bluster; it's a theory of change shaped by a decade of building foundations, and the confidence that India can finally argue on the frontier, not at the margins. top videos View all From toilets to chips, from appeals to delivery, today's Red Fort vow by Modi declares a simple creed – India will build what it dreams, and defend what it builds. The writer is the founding CEO of BlueKraft Digital Foundation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: August 15, 2025, 14:32 IST News opinion Opinion: Modi's Red Fort Arch – From Basics Of Past To Blocks Of Future Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
What is the ‘Sudarshan Chakra Mission' that PM Modi announced in his I-Day speech?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will be launching the 'Sudarshan Chakra Mission', aimed at enhancing the country's security over the next decade. PM Modi, during his Independence Day speech in Delhi on Friday, said that the new 'Sudarshan Chakra Mission' will aim to create a shield protecting India's strategic, civilian, and religious sites from potential enemy attacks.(REUTERS) According to Modi, the mission will integrate advanced surveillance, interception, and counter-attack capabilities to enable swift neutralisation of threats across air, land, and sea domains. Follow live updates on Independence Day 2025 During his Independence Day address from the Red Fort in the national capital, the prime minister also stressed the importance of developing a jet engine domestically for India's fighter aircraft programme, stating that 'it is necessary to march ahead in the defence manufacturing sector.' Praising the armed forces for the success of Operation Sindoor, Modi said it had dealt a 'severe blow to Pakistan', with new details of the damage inflicted on the country emerging 'every day.' This year, Modi delivered his longest Independence Day speech yet, speaking for 103 minutes (1 hour and 43 minutes) from the Red Fort. The address broke his previous record of 98 minutes set in 2024; his first record was in 2015 with an 88-minute speech. What are the objectives of 'Sudarshan Chakra Mission'? Modi said that the new 'Sudarshan Chakra Mission' will aim to create a shield protecting India's strategic, civilian, and religious sites from potential enemy attacks, while also developing new weapons. The system is expected to rival Israel's renowned Iron Dome, a multi-layered defence network credited with intercepting thousands of rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah since its deployment in the 2010s, with Israel claiming a success rate of over 90 per cent. 'In the next ten years, by 2035, I want to expand, strengthen, and modernise this national security shield. Drawing inspiration from Lord Shri Krishna, we have chosen the path of the Sudarshan Chakra... The nation will be launching the Sudarshan Chakra Mission. The entire modern system should be researched, developed, and manufactured in India, harnessing the talent of our youth. This powerful system will not only counter terrorist attacks but also strike back at the terrorists,' Modi said. Highlighting the goal of self-reliance, he emphasised that by 2035 the country will enhance and modernise its security infrastructure, drawing inspiration from Lord Shri Krishna's Sudarshan Chakra. 'India aims to develop its own Iron Dome-like defence system, named Mission Sudarshan Chakra, designed to safeguard critical sites, including civilian areas,' he added. The Sudarshan Chakra Mission, Modi said, reflects India's commitment to indigenous innovation and robust defence capabilities. Issuing a stern warning to Pakistan from the Red Fort, Modi declared that 'terrorists and those providing them safe haven will be treated alike' and asserted that the armed forces will have the authority to decide the punishment for any future misadventure by the neighbouring nation. Praising the military for the success of Operation Sindoor, he said it had dealt a 'severe blow to Pakistan' with details of the damage inflicted 'emerging every day.' He also reiterated that India 'will not tolerate Pakistan's nuclear blackmail anymore' and has established a 'new normal' in tackling cross-border terrorism. The comments came in the context of the April 22 Pahalgam attack, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. India responded with a series of diplomatic and economic measures, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, sparking four days of hostilities that ended with an understanding between the two sides on May 10. Modi said the armed forces had been given a free hand to punish those behind the Pahalgam attack, with the military also entrusted to decide on any future retaliation.
RTHK
08-05-2025
- Politics
- RTHK
China, Russia to raise cooperation to new level: Xi
China, Russia to raise cooperation to new level: Xi Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov shake hands as Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin look on. Photo: Reuters President Xi Jinping on Thursday said China and Russia will raise cooperation to a new level, countering the influence of the United States. According to a joint statement issued after the two leaders held talks in the Kremlin during Xi's state visit to Russia, Beijing and Moscow will deepen relations in all areas, including military ties, and "strengthen coordination in order to decisively counter Washington's course of 'dual containment' of Russia and China". The two countries also agreed to further deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era. The president said he held "in-depth, cordial and fruitful" talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. "Just now, I held in-depth, cordial and fruitful talks with President Putin. We have reached many new and important consensuses," Xi said. He also said China-Russia ties have injected "positive energy" into a world in turmoil. The two countries "have continued to deepen political mutual trust and strategic cooperation... and injected valuable stability and positive energy into an international situation full of interwoven turmoil," Xi said. The two sides signed a series of cooperation documents. Xi also urged China and Russia to jointly promote the correct historical perspective on the Second World War. "Facing the countercurrent of unilateralism and bullying internationally, China will work with Russia to shoulder the special responsibilities as world powers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. "We should jointly promote the correct view of the history of World War II, safeguard the authority and status of the United Nations, resolutely defend the rights and interests of China, Russia and the vast majority of developing countries, and work together to promote an equal, orderly, multipolar, and inclusive economic globalisation." The president will be among more than 20 foreign leaders attending a military parade in Russia on Friday marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany. China and Russia also slammed US President Donald Trump's plan for an Iron Dome-like missile defence system, calling it "deeply destabilising". The plan "explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space", a joint statement said. (Agencies)
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Russia, China slam Trump's plan for 'Iron Dome' missile shield
Moscow: Russia and China on Thursday slammed US President Donald Trump's plan for an Iron Dome-like missile defence system as "deeply destabilising", saying it risked turning space into a "battlefield". #Operation Sindoor Live Updates| From Sindoor to showdown? Track Indo-Pak conflict as it unfolds India hits Lahore's Air Defence Radars in proportionate response Pakistan tried to hit military targets in these 15 Indian cities, New Delhi thwarts strikes Trump ordered an "Iron Dome for America" shortly after his inauguration in January, a programme to counter ballistic and hypersonic missile threats . The plan revives parts of a controversial Reagan-era plan nicknamed "Star Wars" that would have placed missile interceptors in space. "The recently announced large-scale 'Golden (Iron) Dome for America' programme is also deeply destabilising," Russia and China said in a statement published by the Kremlin after talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Moscow. The plan "explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space", it added. Live Events The two countries said they would start talks on preventing the deployment of arms in space and would "counter policies and activities aimed at achieving military supremacy and formalising the use of space as a battlefield". Trump's proposal, which the US president has also called the "Golden Dome", refers to a highly successful system employed by Israel to down short-range rockets. Washington faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel's Iron Dome is designed to counter. Russia, which commands the world's largest nuclear arsenal, last year unveiled a new hypersonic missile known as "Oreshnik", a weapon experts believe flies at 10 times the speed of sound. Beijing has been closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, according to the US National Defence Strategy released in 2022. Russia and the US have traded accusations of weaponising space in recent years.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democrats sound alarm over ‘indiscriminate' Pentagon cuts
Democrats across the Capitol were outraged Thursday at news that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior Pentagon and military leaders to plan 8 percent cuts from the defense budget in each of the next five years. Republicans, who traditionally support robust defense spending, took the plans in stride, despite GOP lawmakers wanting to add $100 billion to the annual defense spending bill. Any cuts that impact districts where ships or arms are produced would likely put the Pentagon on a collision course with Congress. The cuts, ordered in a Tuesday memo, would seek to shave off $50 billion from Defense Department coffers in the next fiscal year in a dramatic realignment of defense spending to fund President Trump's priorities, including an Iron Dome-like missile defense system for the U.S. and beefed up border security. Democrats say the effort is a sham that will not only fail to save taxpayers money, but also undermine America's defense capabilities in an increasingly hostile world. 'These types of hasty, indiscriminate budget cuts would betray our military forces and their families and make America less safe,' Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a statement. 'I'm all for cutting programs that don't work, but this proposal is deeply misguided. Secretary Hegseth's rushed, arbitrary strategy would have negative impacts on our security, economy, and industrial base.' Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), however, said the Pentagon effort is simply the new administration reviewing the entire budget. 'This process will enable the Secretary to offset needless and distracting programs – such as those focused on climate change and [diversity, equity and inclusion] – and direct focus on important warfighting priorities shared by the Congress,' Wicker said in a statement, adding that the Biden administration ran a similar review for the fiscal 2022 budget. Wicker noted that he has spoken with Trump repeatedly and that 'he intends to deliver a desperately needed military rebuild and Pentagon reform agenda.' In the memo, obtained by The Hill, Hegseth outlines cuts to military commands in Europe and the Middle East, but preserves or boosts spending for 17 priority areas that appear to indicate a shift to defense issues closer to the U.S. homeland. They include border security, cybersecurity, nuclear modernization, submarines, drones and 'combating transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere.' 'President Trump's charge to DoD is clear: achieve Peace through Strength,' Hegseth writes in the memo. 'The time for preparation is over — we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence. Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.' The funding shift puts the Trump administration at odds with Congress, where Republicans had planned to increase the Pentagon's $850 billion budget by $100 billion — part of a package meant to enact Trump's wider agenda. Should the administration implement an annual 8 percent cut over the next five years, that will add up to roughly $300 billion less in military spending through 2030. The sheer size of the cuts, initiated by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency — which has sought to gut federal agencies under the guise of rooting out government waste and inefficiency — has unnerved lawmakers. 'As a former National Security Council adviser during Trump's first administration and 25-year Army veteran, I have no doubt the sweeping, proposed cuts to the Pentagon would threaten U.S. national security and weaken our military readiness,' Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) said Thursday. 'At a time when China, Russia, and Iran pose serious threats, we need strength not weakness,' he continued. 'We need to bolster our military, not hollow it out.' Rep. John Garamendi (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee's subpanel on military readiness, delivered a similar warning. He cast Hegseth's cost-cutting efforts as a ruse designed to shift money to Trump's favored policies, to include tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. 'If they were serious about cutting waste, they wouldn't be diverting military resources to illegally conduct deportation flights at a higher cost to the taxpayer,' Garamendi said in an email. 'If they were serious about executing oversight, they wouldn't exempt $1,500,000,000,000 in nuclear modernization costs, particularly when the modernization for land-based missiles has already triggered mandatory reviews for egregious overruns.' Garamendi said he welcomes any campaign to make the Pentagon more efficient and combat price-gouging by defense contractors. 'Unfortunately,' he added, 'it is clear that this administration cares more about imposing their radical political agenda and lining the pockets of their billionaire buddies, than it does about protecting the American taxpayer and our national security.' Republicans, meanwhile, had little to say on the proposed cuts, while some were supportive. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he wholeheartedly backs cuts at the Pentagon, including a staff downsizing. 'I wouldn't be against them taking it from a Pentagon to a Trigon. Cut a couple sides off of it,' he told reporters. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also defended the plans. 'I've been saying for quite some time, what we spend defense money on is more important than exactly how much we do,' he said. 'I'm far more concerned about restructuring our defense spending so we get the most bang for the buck, and really focus on protecting our war fighters and making sure that we defend this nation,' he added. But Capitol Hill holds broad consensus that boosted defense budgets are necessary to deter threats posed by China and Russia, among other adversaries, making Trump's proposal sure to face internal resistance. And unlike agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, where Trump has sought to slash funding, the Pentagon's budget is backed by powerful lobbyists, along with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle whose districts rely on weapons manufacturing. If enacted, the proposed reductions would be the most severe effort to curtail Pentagon spending since 2013, when congressionally mandated budget cuts known as sequestration took effect. Over time, the cuts were seen by both sides of the aisle as politically unpopular and had draining effects on force readiness. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
