Aatmanirbhar Bharat' a duty towards global good: PM Modi in his Independence Day speech

This self-reliance has the potential to spread across diverse sectors like space technology, agriculture, health and tourism, and the benefits would ultimately reach both India and other nations, Modi said in his strong pitch.

He also emphasised the need to reduce the country's dependence on finished foreign goods. "How long we will keep sending raw materials abroad and bringing back finished goods? We need to move forward strongly on the path of value addition," Modi said.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, India's long-standing plan to drastically reduce its dependence on imports — from China as well as elsewhere — has gone into overdrive. After incidents of violence along the India-China border in Ladakh, the government has given its green signal to place tighter restrictions on the import of 371 items — from toys and plastic goods to sports items and furniture — which contribute about $127 billion to the annual import bill.

Simply reducing imports was not the priority, the PM said. Giving a fillip to his 'Vocal for Local' call, Modi said the appreciation of local goods and services should be pushed by all citizens. "If we do not praise our own goods, they will not get the opportunity to become better," Modi said.

Modi also gave a call to double down on skill development at a national stage. "When things continue to come in from abroad, our national trove of skills and human resources gets destroyed over generations," he said.