"We Revived Nalanda University, Now We Must Revive Nalanda Spirit": PM Modi

Addressing the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government wants to develop an education system so that youngsters don't need to go abroad to study. In this connection, he also mentioned Bihar's Nalanda University, the new campus on which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister in June.

"I don't want that the youngsters of my country are compelled to go abroad to study. Middle class families have to spend lakhs and crores on their children's education overseas. We want to develop an education system here so that the youth of my country don't need to go abroad, Instead, people from abroad come to India," the Prime Minister said from ramparts of Red Fort this morning.

"We have revived Nalanda University in Bihar and it has started functioning now, but we have to revive the centuries-old Nalanda spirit in the education sphere, and use it to give direction to global knowledge traditions," the Prime Minister said.

The government's new education policy, he said, has focused on vernacular languages. "I want to tell state governments and all institutions that our country's talent must not face a language barrier. We have to focus on the place of mother tongues in our lives, education and family," he said. 

The government, the Prime Minister said, has implemented wide-ranging reforms not to satisfy experts or intellectual debate clubs, but with a 'Nation First' pledge to take the country forward.

He said previous governments had a "chalta hai" -- meaning lackadaisical -- approach to reforms and development. "There was an environment of status quo. We had to break that mindset. The common man wanted change, but his dreams were not appreciated and he kept waiting for reforms. We implemented big reforms, for the poor, the middle class, deprived sections of the society and youth," the Prime Minister said, in his eleventh consecutive speech on the Independence Day, months after he started his third term.