PRESIDENT HAILS MOON LANDING, RAM TEMPLE IN ANNUAL ADDRESS

The Ram Mandir will be considered "a landmark in India's continued rediscovery of its civilisational heritage," President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to the nation on the eve of the 75th Republic Day on Thursday.

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Murmu also referred to the conflicts around the world and underlined that "India has time and again shown that non-violence is not just an ideal that may be difficult to achieve but it is a distinct possibility".

The President hailed Karpoori Thakur, who has been awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously, as one of the greatest advocates of backward classes who dedicated his life for their welfare and added that "the G20 Summit also boosted India's emergence as the voice of the Global South, adding a necessary element to the international discourse".

She said the women's reservation bill, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, will prove to be a revolutionary tool of women's empowerment, and praised the "farsighted planning that fuels the economy has also given a push to the welfare drive to make the development inclusive in every sense of the term".

"The ethos of our Republic brings together more than 1.4 billion of us to live as one family. For this largest family in the world, co-existence is not an imposition of geography but a source of happiness," Murmu said.