72nd Independence Day: Narendra Modi's speech to stream on YouTube; PM likely to push for greater financial inclusion

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Wednesday on the occasion of Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort, and is likely to announce pilot projects of Ayushman Bharat in select district hospitals and also push for financial inclusion.

The speech this year will be live streamed on Google and YouTube. Prasar Bharti has tied up with Google to broadcast the prime minister's speech live so that it reaches more people. "Live stream of the Independence Day event from Red Fort is a high viewership event. In order to give it greater visibility, both in India and abroad, we partnered with Google. Apart from YouTube, it will be available on Google's homepage," Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati told The Hindu.

According to Times Now, the prime minister received about 30,000 suggestions for his Independence Day speech. In addition to this, close to 2,000 people from rural areas also wrote letters to Modi and the suggestions ranged from job creation, education, digitisation, family planning and healthcare, the report added.

Modi is likely to announce the launch of the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPS) on a pilot basis in some states on Wednesday, with the full-scale roll-out of the project expected by September-end, sources told PTI.

The ambitious AB-NHPM aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10 crore poor families. The scheme will target people from poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families, 8.03 crore in rural and 2.33 crore in urban areas, as per the latest SECC data, and will cover around 50 crore people.

While Punjab, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi are yet to come on board, Odisha has refused to be a part of the scheme, a government official said.

Modi is also expected to announce benefits for about 32 crore Jan Dhan account holders in his address to provide a boost to the government's financial inclusion drive. Sources told PTI that the government may announce attractive micro insurance scheme on the occasion.

Phase II of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) will come to an end on 15 August and the scheme would be due for a revamp with further goals, the sources said, adding that the prime minister’s Independence Day speech would be the best platform to make the announcement.

There could be a doubling of overdraft facility to Rs 10,000 under the PMJDY account holders as part of the government’s effort to fund the unfunded, they said.

Last year, Modi spoke for nearly 54 minutes, which was his shortest Independence Day address since 2014. He spoke for over 65 minutes in 2014, 86 minutes in 2015, and 94 minutes in 2016.