16 AUGUST 2014: Modi's debut I'day speech

Ø  Promising to take the country on the path of faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the setting up of a new institution to replace the Planning Commission and make India a manufacturing hub. Speaking extempore during his maiden Independence Day speech as Prime Minister, Mr. Modi vowed to empower the poor with access to finance and give the States a bigger role in making policies and decisions for the economy. Mr. Modi said the new institution would foster cooperative federalism, facilitate public-private partnership and help in better navigation of the new economic challenges the country faced. Inviting global investors to make India their manufacturing base and calling upon the young industrial workforce and entrepreneurs to pitch in to building the made-in-India brand, Mr. Modi said: “Come, make in India, manufacture in India. Sell in any country of the world but manufacture here.” The Prime Minister announced the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana under which the poor will be provided a bank account with a debit card with a built-in insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh.

Ø  China is keen on President Xi Jinping visiting Gujarat when he arrives in India next month on his first visit to the country since taking over as President last year. While both sides are currently in consultations over the schedule and details of the visit — which is set to take place in the third week of September — it is understood that Gujarat is one of the destinations under consideration for the Chinese President. A visit by Mr. Xi to Gujarat will hold special symbolism for several reasons. For China, it will reinforce the government’s close relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — as well as Beijing’s support to the State — stretching back over the past decade, when Mr. Modi made several visits to China as Gujarat Chief Minister at a time when his ties with the West were strained.

Ø  French energy giant Total has shown interest in steering the cash-strapped Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, despite grave security concerns that have so far dashed hopes of forging energy linkages between Central and South Asia.