Committee set up to deliberate on minimum marriage age of women: PM Modi
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government is deliberating on what should be the minimum age of marriage for women and has set up a committee to look into the matter.
Addressing the nation on India's 74th Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi covered a range of issues related to women, including their role in the armed forces, economic empowerment, the effort to recruit them in the NCC and the government's scheme to provide sanitary napkins at Re 1.
We have set up a committee to deliberate on the minimum age for marriage of our daughters. We will take appropriate decisions after the committee submits its report, he said.
The minimum age of marriage for women is 18 years and 21 for men.
Discussing the role of women in the forces, the prime minister said India is among the countries of the world where women are involved in combat roles in the Navy and the Air Force.
He added that women could comprise one-third of the one lakh new NCC cadets who will be given special training.
"We are expanding NCC in border areas; special training will be provided to about one lakh new NCC cadets, out of which we will try that one-third of them are our daughters," he said.
On the economic empowerment of women, Prime Minister Modi said 22 crore of the 40 crore jan dhan accounts are of women and about Rs 30,000 crore have been deposited in their accounts during the pandemic.
"Out of Mudra loans worth Rs 25 crore, 70 per cent of them have been taken by our mothers and sisters. Under the Pradhan Matri Awaas Yojna, most registrations are under the name of women," he added.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra scheme, the prime minister said, the government has started giving away sanitary napkins at Re 1 to empower women and also to keep their health in check.
In 6,000 Jan Aushadi Kendras, more than five crore sanitary napkins have been provided to women in a short period of time, he said. Modi also said his government is determined to provide equal employment opportunities to women.
Whenever women have been given an opportunity, they have made India proud and strengthened the country. Today, the nation is determined to provide equal opportunities for self-employment and employment to them, Modi said.
Today, women are working in underground coal mines as well as touching the sky while flying fighter planes, he noted.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
