On Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh became the third PM after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to be giving the ninth consecutive Independence Day speech.
Seeking to position his government as one committed to transparency, Singh mentioned the UID scheme Aadhar and the direct cash transfer model.
Also, “the cabinet has cleared a Public Procurement Bill”, he said.
Foreign policy was conspicuous by its absence in his speech - there was not a mention of Pakistan, the neighbourhood in general, or the world at large, save for an allusion to the global recession and how India was weathering it.
For the 79-year-old economist Prime Minister-who is the third PM after Nehru and Indira Gandhi to be giving the ninth consecutive I-Day speech - the abiding focus this year was clearly domestic.
In his link-up between economic security, energy security and overall national security, it’s his sense of political helplessness and inability to push through the next generation of reforms that came through.