Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 7th
Independence Day speech made a big pitch for Vocal for Local and pushed for the
Make in India campaign. Consolidating on his pitch, he said that in the coming
thousand days, every village in India will be connected with optical
fibre. He also mentioned that only five dozen village panchayats were connected
with optical fibre before 2014 and in the last five years the number increased
to 1.5 lakhs.

Also read: PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech at Red Fort: Top Quotes

“There are more than 1300 islands in our country. Keeping in
mind their geographical location and their significance in the development of
the nation, work to begin new projects in some of these islands is underway,” PM Modi said.

“In the next 1000 days, Lakshadweep will also be connected to submarine optical fiber cable,” he added.

Earlier in the month, PM Modi inaugurated the first-ever
undersea optical fibre cable project for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The optical fibre cable will provide high-speed broadband
connections in the union territory at par with services in the mainland. The optical fibre cable will improve both digital connectivity and tourism.

According to official data, the internet with a speed of 400
gigabytes (GB) per second will be provided at Port Blair and for other islands,
it will be 200 GB per second.

This project, implemented at a cost of Rs 1,224 crore, will
give a boost to 4G mobile services and digital services like tele-education,
telehealth, e-governance services and tourism on the islands.

As India celebrates its 74th Independence Day, PM
Modi, in his speech, said “we should appreciate our local products. There is a need to stop
exporting raw material, and importing finished goods”.

Read: Thermal scanners, sanitisers, kits: Independence Day in the time of COVID-19

“In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, 130 crore
Indians have pledged to build an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. India’s share in world
economy should increase for which we have to be self-reliant,” PM Modi
further added.

The PM maintained that it was necessary to prepare “ourselves
to make India a self-reliant country.”

During his Independence Day, PM Modi also paid special
tribute to the COVID-19 warriors, health workers, who are fighting the pandemic
on the frontline.