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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted his government's poverty alleviation schemes in his Independence Day speech, but the address was thin on plans for the future and made no mention of the setbacks to his economic reform agenda.

Modi won a resounding election victory in May last year largely because of his promises to revive India's slacking economy and put an end to a slew of corruption scandals that the ruling Congress party was mired in.

But achieving his ambitious reform agenda has proved hard, with both his land and tax reform proposals stalled by the opposition.

Saturday's annual speech marks the anniversary of the day India gained its freedom from British colonial rule in 1947.