Tryst with destiny still miles away : PM

New Delhi, Aug 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India was still miles away from its tryst with destiny envisioned by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 in the first Independence Day address to the nation by an Indian PM.

''India is certainly on the march. Yet, we have miles to go before we can truly say that we have made our tryst with destiny,'' Dr Singh said in his third address to the nation from the Red Fort here.

Recalling that 60 years ago, when he was barely 15-years old, Pandit Nehru had defined the tryst with destiny as eradication of poverty, ignorance and disease and removal of inequality of opportunity, Dr Singh said India had since marched a great distance forward towards achieving this goal.

''But the challenge of banishing poverty remains with us. We have yet to banish hunger from our land. We have yet to eradicate illiteracy. We have yet to ensure that every Indian enjoys good health,'' he said.

At the same time, in these sixty years, the world had been transformed beyond recognition. The empires of Europe had faded away.

''New powers have emerged in Asia. Look at where Japan was and where it is today. Look at where China was and where it is today.

Look at where the countries of South-East Asia were and where are they today? When I see them, I wonder whether we are living up to our full potential or not,'' he said.

UNI