New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS): A birthday is traditionally regarded as a day of personal celebration, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday has, over the years, increasingly come to be associated with public service, welfare initiatives and programmes aimed at making a difference in the lives of people.
In a post on X, Modi Story shared a video highlighting several initiatives and major events associated with Prime Minister Modi’s birthday over the years, including the launch of schemes such as the PM Vishwakarma Yojana in 2023 and the Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivaar Abhiyaan in 2025, as well as visits to major projects such as the Sardar Sarovar Dam in 2019.
“For most of us, a birthday is a day we make our own. For Narendra Modi, September 17 has come to mean something different. A family receives the keys to a new home. A new initiative opens doors for women. A long-awaited infrastructure project takes its first step,” Modi Story posted.
“Year after year, the day has quietly become more and more about Seva. Perhaps there is no better way to celebrate another year of life than by making that day matter in someone else’s,” the post read.
The video and accompanying post traced a series of initiatives and public engagements undertaken on or around Prime Minister Modi’s birthday, highlighting programmes related to women’s welfare, housing, traditional artisans, healthcare, wildlife conservation, vaccination and infrastructure development.
In 2025, on the Prime Minister’s 75th birthday, the ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivaar Abhiyaan’ was launched as a nationwide health and nutrition outreach campaign. The initiative focussed extensively on customised medical care, health check-ups and welfare distribution for women and children, with the aim of expanding access to healthcare and related services.
On his 74th birthday on September 17, 2024, Prime Minister Modi travelled to Odisha and launched the SUBHADRA Scheme, a flagship initiative of the Odisha government aimed at empowering women.
During the same birthday programme, he participated in nationwide Griha Pravesh, or housewarming, celebrations for 26 lakh beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
To further strengthen the distribution of housing benefits in rural areas, Prime Minister Modi also officially launched the Awaas Plus 2024 App.
In 2023, on his 73rd birthday on September 17, Prime Minister Modi launched the PM Vishwakarma Scheme, an initiative aimed at supporting traditional artisans and craftspeople, including weavers, goldsmiths, potters and cobblers, particularly those belonging to marginalised communities.
In 2022, Prime Minister Modi travelled to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, where he formally launched the historic transcontinental translocation project involving the reintroduction of cheetahs in India. He released eight wild Namibian cheetahs into specially prepared enclosures, marking a major step in the project to restore the species to the country after its extinction in India in 1952.
In 2021, the Central government conducted a major nationwide Covid vaccination drive on Prime Minister Modi’s birthday. India administered more than 2.5 crore vaccine doses in a single day, marking the highest single-day vaccination figure achieved during the pandemic.
In 2019, Prime Minister Modi visited the Sardar Sarovar Dam to witness the project reach its peak water-level capacity. During the visit, he launched the Namami Narmada Festival and activated localised water conservation awareness initiatives across Gujarat.
In 2018, Prime Minister Modi spent the day in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi. During the visit, he dedicated rural development projects worth more than Rs 500 crore, including a major Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) project for the old city.
In 2017, Prime Minister Modi dedicated the massive Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River to the nation.
In 2016, the government launched modules under the Divyangjan Sahayata Scheme, through which assistive kits, specialised computing devices and high-tech wheelchairs were distributed to thousands of persons with disabilities simultaneously across different states.
In 2015, Prime Minister Modi visited Shauryanjali, an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Across the years, these birthday engagements have combined welfare initiatives, development projects, public programmes and visits to significant national institutions and projects.
