Education has a crucial role to play in making India self-reliant and prosperous and the new National Education Policy has been introduced with this objective, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. Addressing the nation on India’s 74th Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the prime minister said the NEP seeks to strengthen research and innovation in the country to help it progress in a competitive world.

‘Education has an important role to play in making India self-reliant, happy and prosperous. With this objective, we have been able to give the country a new education policy after over three decades,’ Modi said.

‘This will shape India of the 21st century. We will soon have citizens who shape a new India, ones who are global citizens but know and understand their roots. The new education policy also focuses on research and development to make India a key research and development destination for the world,’ he said.