Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the Constitution Day program at the Supreme Court in New Delhi today. The Chief Justice of India, Shri Sanjiv Khanna, Judges of the Supreme Court Justice Shri B.R. Gavai and Justice Shri Suryakant, Minister for Law and Justice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Attorney General of India and other dignitaries were present at the event. 

Addressing the gathering, Shri Modi greeted all the dignitaries, the delegates and the citizens on the occasion of Constitution day. He remarked that it was a matter of immense pride of the 75th year of Indian Constitution. He paid tributes to the members of the Constituent Assembly and the Constitution on the occasion. 

The Prime Minister remarked that today when we were celebrating the Constitution Day, it cannot be forgotten that today was the anniversary of Mumbai Terror attacks as well. He paid tribute to the victims of the terror attack. Shri Modi reiterated that India will give a befitting reply to every terror organization which threatens the security and integrity of India. 

Recalling the elaborate debates and discussions of the Constituent Assembly regarding the Constitution of India, Shri Modi quoted Babasaheb Ambedkar and said: “Constitution is not a mere Lawyer’s document, it is a spirit, it's always the spirit of age”. Adding that this spirit was imperative, Shri Modi said the framers of the Constitution had provided us with the liberty to interpret the Constitution from time to time by taking appropriate decisions according to the country, time and situation. He added that the makers of the Constitution were well aware that the dreams and aspirations of India will scale new heights with time and the needs of the people of Independent India will also evolve along with the challenges. Therefore, he said, the constitution makers did not make the Constitution as a mere document, but a living, continuously flowing stream. 

“Our Constitution is a guide to our present and our future”, exclaimed Shri Modi and added that the Constitution had shown the right path to tackle the various challenges that have cropped up in the last 75 years of its existence. He further noted that the Constitution even encountered the dangerous times of Emergency faced by Indian Democracy. The Prime Minister underscored that the Constitution had met every need and expectation of the Country. He added that it was only by the power granted by the Constitution that the Constitution framed by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was in force even in Jammu and Kashmir today. He further added that today for the first time the Constitution Day was celebrated in J&K. 

Highlighting that India was going through an important phase of change, the Prime Minister said that the Constitution was showing us the right path as a guiding light. Emphasizing that now the path of India's future was of achieving big dreams and big resolutions, Shri Modi remarked that today the goal of every citizen was to build a Viksit Bharat. Explaining further, he said that a Developed India meant a place where each and every citizen was ensured of getting a quality of life and dignity of life. This, he said, was a great medium of ensuring Social Justice and was the spirit of the Constitution as well. Therefore, the Prime Minister stressed, many steps were undertaken to ensure socio-economic justice in the past few years like opening more than 53 crore bank accounts of the people, in the last decade, who did not have access to the banks. He added that in the past decade, four crore people were ensured of pucca houses, 10 crore gas cylinder connections were given to women of the household. Shri Modi underscored that there were only 3 crore houses in India which had household tap connections even after 75 years of Independence. He added that he was pleased that his Government had given more than 12 crore household tap water connections in the last 5-6 years which had eased the living of citizens and women in particular. He added that this has strengthened the spirit of the Constitution.  

Shri Modi remarked that the Original copy of the Indian Constitution had pictures of Lord Ram, Goddess Sita, Lord Hanuman, Bhagwan Buddha, Bhagwan Mahavira and Guru Govind Singh. He added that these symbols of Indian culture were given place in the Constitution to ensure that it constantly keeps us aware and mindful of human values. “Human Values are the basis of today's Indian policies and decisions”, exclaimed the Prime Minister. He added that the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita was enforced to ensure speedy delivery of justice to the citizens. He further said that the punishment based system has now changed to a justice based system. The Prime Minister stressed that the historic Women's Reservation Bill was introduced to increase the political participation of women. He added that steps were undertaken to ensure the identity and rights of the third gender people and facilities to ease the living of Divyang people.

Underlining that today India was laying a lot of emphasis on the ease of living of citizens, Shri Modi remarked that Digital Life Certificates were given to Senior citizens at their doorstep, the benefit of which was availed by around 1.5 crore Senior citizens till date. He added that India was one of the countries which gave free medical treatment upto Rs 5 lakh to every poor family and India was one such country which gave free healthcare facilities to senior citizens over 70 years of age. He noted that across thousands of Jan Aushadi Kendras in India, the medicines were being sold at a discount of 80% of prices.   Shri Modi said he was pleased that today the immunization coverage among children was nearing 100% through the Mission Indradhanush as against less than 60% coverage in the past. He added that the children in the remotest villages were being immunized today. These efforts, he said, had reduced a lot of the woes of poor and middle class families. 

Touching upon the Aspirational Districts program of the Government, Shri Modi said more than 100 most backward districts were chosen and pace has been intensified in every developmental parameter. He added that today many aspirational districts had fared better than many other districts. The Prime Minister remarked that the Government had now started the Aspirational Block program based on the model of Aspirational Districts Program.

The Prime Minister exhorted that the Government was leaving no stone unturned to remove the difficulties in the lives of citizens. He noted that more than 2.5 crore households were electrified through the Free Electricity scheme which had no electric connection until a few years ago. He also noted that the Mobile towers were installed in the remotest areas to ensure mobile connectivity to the people through 4G and 5G technologies. He further added that high speed broadband connection was now available in the islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep through Underwater Optical Fiber connections. The Prime Minister remarked that India had taken a lead over the developed nations in ensuring land records of houses and agricultural lands in India. He added that under the PM Swamitva Yojana, drone mapping of the land and houses of the village and legal documents were issued on its basis. 

Shri Modi remarked that rapid development of modern infrastructure was a great necessity for the development of the country. He added that the completion of infrastructure projects on time ensured saving of money as well as ensuring the utility of the project itself. He added that infrastructure projects were regularly reviewed using the PRAGATI platform, chaired by the Prime Minister himself, and more than Rs 18 lakh crore worth of projects were reviewed and the obstacles facing them were removed.  Shri Modi said that the timely completion of the infrastructure projects had a multitude of positive effects on the lives of the people. He added that these efforts were ensuring the progress of the country as well as strengthening the basic spirit of the Constitution. 

Concluding the address, Shri Modi quoted the lines from speech of Dr Rajendra Prasad on 26th November 1949 and said “What India needs today is nothing more than a group of honest people who will put the nation's interests ahead of their own”. He added that this spirit of Nation First will keep the Constitution of India alive for centuries to come. 

Background

On the momentous occasion of completion of 75 years of adoption of the Constitution of India, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the Constitution Day celebrations at the Auditorium, Administrative Building Complex of the Supreme Court. The programme was organised by the Supreme Court of India. The Chief Justice of India and other Judges of the Supreme Court were present.

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MJPS/SR