New Delhi, August 16, 2007 - India is moving in the right direction but Indians need to work harder for at least a decade to eradicate poverty and provide education and healthcare to the millions on the other side of the divide, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the nation’s 60th Independence Day.

Independent India was not the only one turning 60 on Wednesday, the last of the pre-independence generation was doing so too. They would step down from the workforce this month-end, leaving only children of Independent India to drive the country to realise the nation’s dreams.
In his 40-minute speech, the prime minister did not refer to the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal — or to Pakistan. An official later hinted that Singh, who had moved across from the other side of Punjab into India during Partition, clearly intended to look at India and her future, free from the ghosts of the past.

“We are a nation of young people. Once unleashed, the energy of our youth will drive India onto a new growth path. I assure you that for each one of you…the best is yet to come,” he promised the country’s youth.

Singh laid special focus on secondary and higher education, called malnutrition a "national shame" and described the welfare of farmers as the core of all concerns. But he made it clear that industrialisation held the key to generating employment opportunities for India's growing young population.

Singh did look back too, to be able to move forward faster. "We have been slow in taking some steps; we have dithered and stumbled at times… We have moved forward in the many battles against poverty, ignorance and disease. But can we say we have won the war," he asked.