Note Ban Ensured Black Money Became Part Of Formal Economy, Says Prime Minister Modi

Good Morning!

Here’s wishing all the readers of BloombergQuint a very happy Independence Day!

It was an August seven decades ago when, at the stroke of the midnight hour, India awoke to life and freedom. A long and bitter struggle for sovereignty had ended a 190-year-old spell of colonial rule. In the seventy tumultuous years since, several events have defined the trajectory and shape of our nation today.

If you had to pick one iconic event for every year of independent India, what would your list of seventy be? Take a look at the one we came up with.

This Independence Day, don’t wait. Go out there and do what you want to do. What you have to do. What you must do. Do the things that will quell the storm in your heart. Ruk mat. Thak mat. Baith mat. (Don’t stop, don’t be tired, don’t sit yet)

In the 70 years since independence, India has made the most progress in improving life expectancy and literacy, but has been slower in improving income levels and reducing infant mortality rates when compared to five other nations.

We compared the progress India has made in improving income, health, education, and in preserving its forests, to five countries – China, Pakistan, Malaysia, South Korea and Brazil.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the Red Fort to address the nation from its ramparts for the fourth time. The PM first paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat before proceeding towards the Red Fort where he was received by the chiefs of the three armed forces.

At the start of his Independence Day address at the red fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured action against the culprits in Gorakhpur Children Tragedy. "People of India stand shoulder to shoulder with those affected due to natural disasters and the tragedy in Gorakhpur," the Prime Minister said.