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President Pranab Mukherjee's addresses nation ahead of I-Day

On Thursday, President Pranab Mukherjee addressed the nation on the eve of India's 68th Independence Day. 

Here are the highlights of his speech: 

1. The nation has to be placed before parties and persons for people to develop

2. Good governance calls for wider involvement of people in politics.

3. Freedom is a celebration, independence is a challenge.

4. The focus of policies has to shift from alleviation of poverty to elimination of poverty

5. The stage is now set for our economy to move to a high growth trajectory

6. The motto of our country should now be of elimination of poverty. Poverty is not a mere statistic, it has a face that becomes unbearable.

7. Education should inculcate love for all, respect for women

8. Intolerance and violence is a betrayal of the letter and spirit of democracy. Those who believe in the poison drip of inflammatory provocation do not understand India’s values or even its present political impulses.

9. The prime minister’s call to honor the memory of Mahatma Gandhi to make India a clean country by 2019 is commendable.

10. We must defend our secular fabric with vigour. Our nation is very young at 68

Read President Pranab Mukherjee's full speech HERE