During his address to the nation from the historic Red Fort on the occasion of India’s 79th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a major new employment initiative aimed at supporting young people entering the workforce for the first time. Announcing the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rojgar Yojana, he described it as a scheme worth Rs 1 lakh crore that would provide direct financial assistance to youth securing their first jobs in the private sector. The Prime Minister emphasised that the programme is designed not only to help jobseekers financially but also to incentivise companies to generate new employment opportunities.
Under the provisions of this scheme, each young man or woman who gets their first job in the private sector will receive Rs 15,000 directly from the government. In addition, private companies that take significant steps to expand their workforce will be rewarded with incentive payments. According to the Prime Minister, this combination of individual financial aid and employer incentives will help stimulate job creation on a large scale. He projected that the initiative has the potential to create close to 3.5 crore new employment opportunities for the country’s youth, boosting both livelihoods and economic growth.
The announcement formed part of a broader Independence Day speech in which the Prime Minister highlighted the government’s priorities for the coming months and years. Alongside employment generation, he placed strong emphasis on the role of technology in shaping India’s future, identifying the semiconductor industry as a particularly strategic sector. Recalling missed opportunities from the past, he noted that proposals for establishing semiconductor manufacturing facilities had been discussed as far back as five or six decades ago but were never implemented, resulting in a long delay in entering the field. He asserted that India is now working in “mission mode” to overcome that gap, with plans to bring made-in-India semiconductor chips to market by the end of the current year.
In addition to the focus on job creation and technology, the Prime Minister also announced significant tax reforms to be rolled out before Diwali, which falls in October this year. He described the forthcoming changes as the “next generation” of Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms, promising a simplified structure that would make compliance easier for individuals and businesses alike. He characterised the changes as a festive gift to citizens, expressing confidence that the new system would streamline transactions, improve efficiency, and strengthen the overall economy. By linking employment generation, technological advancement, and tax reform, the Prime Minister sought to present a comprehensive vision for economic progress and national development in the years ahead.
