President address to the nation Highlights: ‘Climate change needs urgent attention’

“Let us all take a pledge to fulfill our constitutional fundamental duty and make continuous efforts to move towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activities so that our country attains new heights of diligence and achievements while progressing continuously,” she said.

President Murmu called for urgent attention to climate change amid extreme weather-related events.

“One area that scientists and policymakers around the world should be paying more urgent attention to is climate change,” she said. “It is necessary to make efforts at the local, national and global level in the interest of the environment.”

Citing the recent launch of Chandrayaan-3, President Murmu said that the lunar mission is only a stepping stone for our future programs in space. “We have a long way to go.”

“The country has converted challenges into opportunities and has also registered impressive GDP growth,” she said.

President Murmu termed G20 Summit in India a unique opportunity to get global priorities in the right direction.

Murmu said that women are contributing extensively in every field of development and service to the country and are increasing the pride of the nation.

“Today our women have made a special place in many such fields in which their participation could not even be imagined a few decades back,” she said.

President Murmu said that women icons like Sarojini Naidu, Ammu Swaminathan, Rama Devi, Aruna Asaf Ali and Sucheta Kriplani have set inspiring ideals for all generations to serve the country and society with self-confidence.

“Apart from caste, creed, language and region, we also have an identity associated with our family and work area. But we have one identity which is above all, and that identity of ours is being a citizen of India,” President Murmu said.

“Independence Day reminds us that we are not just individuals, but we are part of a great community, the largest and most vibrant of its kind. It is a community of citizens of the world's largest democracy,” President Murmu said in her address to the nation.

President Murmu expressed pleasure over the festive atmosphere on the eve of Independence Day.

In her maiden Independence Day Eve address, President Murmu last year quoted nationalist poet Kuvempu. “This is a clarion call of the nationalist poet for making total sacrifice for the motherland and upliftment of fellow citizens. To follow these ideals is my special appeal to the youth of the country who are going to build the India of 2047,” she had said.

President Droupadi Murmu will address the nation on the eve of Independence Day for the second time after she assumed office in July 2022.