NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday highlighted India’s upcoming digital census and recent gains in clean energy and nuclear power as key milestones in the country’s development.
In his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, Modi said the indigenously built fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu had reached criticality. “The Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu has reached criticality. In fact, criticality is the stage during which the reactor successfully achieves a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction for the first time. This stage means that the reactor enters the operational phase,” the Prime Minister said.
As of April 2026, India has an installed nuclear power capacity of 8.78 gigawatts in 25 operating reactors.
Modi said India has added 6 GW of wind capacity in the last year, taking the total installed wind capacity to 56 GW. Total renewable energy capacity, including wind, solar and hydro, reached 26,283.46 GW in the fiscal year as the country’s 2030 target is 500 GW.
At Census 2027, the world’s largest population census exercise, Modi said the exercise was the first fully digital census. The last census took place in 2011.
While door-to-door enumerators will have a mobile app, citizens can enter their information themselves and verify a special code with census officials.
Modi said that in states where the enumeration itself has been completed, enumerators have also started enumeration of households. So far, the supply of houses for around 12 million families has been completed.
Modi also mentioned the growing exports of dairy products and said that increased investment and adoption of technology is helping Indian products meet global standards.
Modi also highlighted that a legislative change in 2017 that removed bamboo from the “tree” category has enabled several northeastern organizations and groups to produce better and more bamboo products.
Meanwhile, on social media platform X, Modi said he was relieved to learn that US President Donald Trump was safe following a reported security incident at the White House press dinner. “Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned,” he wrote in the post.
