New Delhi: As preparations are on in full swing for the Independence Day celebrations, with the ministerial committee working on a daily basis to firm up details of the speech’s content, ministries and departments have been asked to contribute by sending a list of “five new initiatives” to the panel.
Sources said that the I&B ministry has been info-rmed by the PMO that since Mr Modi will be speaking “extempore”, there is “no need to print” co-pies of the speech, as is customary, for distribution to the dignitaries .
Sources confirmed that Mr Modi will project Savarkar as a hero, listing his name in the company of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce the setting up of a new department for skill development under HRD minister Smriti Irani, and one for the Clean Ganga project.
The Union government has issued instructions to complete the formalities for a nodal office each for these two pet projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sources said this will give a fillip for implementation and quicker results as both the programmes are spread across different ministries.
At present, skill development for young people is run by as many as 21 ministries, while the programme to clean the Ganga is handled by at least three ministries. Due to this, the government was not able to make a department functional even two months after it took charge.
