From railways, roadways to tax reforms, ease of getting passports and Aadhaar card, the Prime Minister spoke of how his government is working to better the lives of Indians. (Reuters)

Highlighting how his government is moving towards ‘Surajya’, PM Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech today said, “It is time to transform from Swarajya to Surajya. This is the dream of 125 crore Indians.” “We are working towards bringing about a change in the lives of common people of this country. Today, more than Karya, I want to talk about Karya Sanskriti. Surajya, the meaning of this is- a qualitative and positive change in the lives of the citizen of India,” the Prime Minister elaborated. From railways, roadways to tax reforms, ease of getting passports and Aadhaar card, the Prime Minister spoke of how his government is working to better the lives of Indians. We take a look at some of the things he highlighted:

1) Earlier you could only book 2,000 railway tickets online per minute. And even then, the system was slow. Now we have worked to make sure that 15,000 tickets can be booked online in one minute.

2) Two crore people apply for passports, and earlier the system was so complicated that it took anywhere between 4-6 months to get your passport. Now we have brought about transparency and efficiency in the system and it takes 1-2 weeks to get a passport.

LIVE Independence Day 2016: PM Narendra Modi’s speech at the Red Fort: I want to change the lives of common people

3) We want to change the situation where people are scared of income tax authorities, particularly among middle class families. Earlier, people kept running from pillar to post to get their hard earned money. Now the tax system has been transformed in a fashion that you can get your tax refunds within weeks.

4) Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, 2 crore toilets have been built so far. Now, over 70,000 villages are free from open-defecation

5) 70 crore people now have their Aadhaar cards. And we are working to make sure that everyone comes under it.

6) Last year, I had promised that for Group C and Group D employees, it will be made easier to get a job. Now for 9,000 posts, there will be no interviews. There is no need for a sifarish.

Acknowledging that the country faces problems, PM Modi said, “Yes, we face several problems. But we are capable of overcoming them. If India has many problems, then it also has 125 crore Indians, who are capable of dealing with them,” he said.