India is striving to achieve self-reliance in the space sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday, August 15, according to PTI.

"The nation is proud of our space sector, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is back from the space station... in the days to come he will return to India," PM Modi said in his Independence Day address to the nation from the Red Fort.

He emphasised that India is advancing towards self-reliance in the space sector and is gearing up for the launch of Gaganyaan, India's flagship human spaceflight programme.

"We will make our own space station," he said.

The prime minister also highlighted that recent reforms have spurred the growth of over 300 start-ups in the space sector.

"Thousands of youth are working on it. This is the power of our youth...This is the confidence we have in our youth," he said.

India also surpasses climate goal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that India has surpassed its ambitious climate target of achieving 50 percent of its cumulative installed electricity capacity from non-fossil-based sources five years ahead of schedule, even as global concerns about warming persist.

Addressing the nation on the 79th Independence Day, he said, "When the world today worries about global warming, India had decided that by 2030 we would increase the contribution of clean energy (to cumulative installed power capacity) to 50 percent in the country."