Overview
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the Red Fort address on Saturday to announce that three large semiconductor plants are operational with exports under way and that the government aims to begin work on five to eight more plants over the coming years.
- Modi also pledged a national AI skilling drive to train 10 million young people within a year and set targets across 6G research, nuclear capacity and wider manufacturing growth to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.
- Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticized Modi’s foreign‑policy optics in parliament and, together with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, skipped the Red Fort ceremony over seating and protocol disputes, triggering a sharp social‑media exchange that reused old family photographs.
- Union minister Kiren Rijiju said there has been no new Chinese takeover in Arunachal Pradesh and traced reported presences back decades, while he acknowledged local grazing and access concerns as legitimate and ongoing.
- The government’s stalled delimitation and women’s reservation amendment, which fell short of a two‑thirds Lok Sabha majority in April, remains a live parliamentary fault line and helps explain why Independence Day announcements are being contested in political and media narratives.