Modi addresses the nation on 69th Independence Day

New Delhi 15,August (Agencies): Good wishes for our 69th Independence Day. Today is the day when every Indian renews his pledge of patriotism and working together for the benefit of the nation, and I too will do so. Last year, when I spoke to you for the first time, I listed our my priorities and made some promises. Today I will give you my report card, which will include both my successes and failures. I will not make any more promises, but focus on fulfilment and implementation of promises and schemes already announced so that it will result in sabka vikas.

But before I do that, I would like to apologise to the nation for not preventing the complete washout of the recent session of Parliament. I do not wish to blame anybody, or talk about what BJP did as opposition and what today's opposition party has done. We have to learn lessons from our past mistakes, forgive each other, and work together to build the nation. On behalf of my party and government I apologise for the disruptions that were done in the past, and offer my hand of cooperation to today's opposition parties. We may have different ideologies and political interests, but we are all interested in building a strong and prosperous India. We will do everything in our power to ensure that not one



minute is wasted in the next Parliament session.

In the last session, two important reform bills - the Land Acquisition Bill and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill - were proposed to be passed. I believe our mistake was in failing to explain what we were trying to do with both measures. In the Land Bill, it was said that we were trying to grab farmers' land when the real issue is that infrastructure projects need land and small farmers with uneconomic land holdings derive very poor incomes as they are unable to invest in their land and grow more crops with higher yields.

Our Land Bill may have been flawed, and with all humility we will rework it and remove the shortcomings. In fact, along with our reworked Land Bill, we plan to introduce a Constitutional Amendment to make the right to property a fundamental right. We will also create provisions in the new Bill where land pooling, leasing and land-for-jobs exchanges and guaranteed monthly incomes become a part of the law when compulsory land acquisition becomes inevitable to build roads and other infrastructure for the poor. We hope the next Land Bill will have universal support from all parties. Our Bill will be a win-win for all, including those who have to give up their land for the greater good.