Indian PM Modi vows to stamp out graft in Independence Day speech

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to tackle corruption and poverty in an annual speech marking the country's independence day. But the premier made no mention of his stalled economic reforms.

Deutsche Welle, 16 Aug 2015

In an address delivered from the ramparts of New Delhi's Red Fort on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that corruption was eating away at India "like a termite."

Modi, a Hindu nationalist, came to power in May 2014 after campaigning on the promise of cleaning up government and reviving a sluggish economy. More than one year on, however, his leadership is facing criticism over failure to get key economic reforms through parliament.

On top of that, a number of senior officials in his Bharatiya Janata Party, including the foreign minister and chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states, have been embroiled in corruption allegations.

"I want to reaffirm that this nation will get rid of corruption. We can rid the country of corruption, we have to start from the top," Modi told the crowd. "Corruption is like a termite, it spreads slowly, reaches everywhere but it can be beaten with timely injections."

Following Saturday's speech, former Information Minister Manish Tewari said Modi had failed to address the corruption allegations and lacked the "moral authority" to order his lieutenants to quit.

Meanwhile, an editorial in Saturday's "Times of India" said the government was becoming mired in the same problems that blighted its predecessor, namely an "inability to push economic reforms that would scale up growth, combined with corruption scandals."

Electricity for all

In the speech, that ran for over an hour, Modi also set the goal of eliminating poverty and bringing electricity to every home across the country by India's 75th independence anniversary in 2022.

"Even after so many decades of independence there are 18,500 villages in India which do not have electricity," Modia said, urging state governments to ensure every community gets linked to the national grid.

Modi, himself from a poor family, trumpeted the measures implemented over the past year, including a government scheme allowing millions of poor Indians to access bank accounts and insurance systems for the first time.

"Financial inclusion of the poor has been a priority and for decades people have been just thinking about it," Modi said. "The poor are at the bottom of the pyramid of development and we have to strengthen the base of the pyramid."

Modi also announced plans to make development funds available to areas where mining was taking place, and to encourage banks to support business initiatives by local tribal people and women.

nm/bk (Reuters, AFP, dpa)