New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has defended his government's controversial measure to strip Kashmir of its statehood, saying in an Independence Day speech that constitutional autonomy had fuelled a movement for separatism and was unjust for Kashmiri women.

As about four million Kashmiris stayed indoors for the 11th day of a security lockdown and communications blackout, Modi gave a live address from the capital's Mughal-era Red Fort.

He deplored Kashmir's political autonomy and a ban on outsiders buying land and taking public sector jobs, and said women were disadvantaged because the law said they lost their inheritance rights if marrying a person from outside the region.

"The old arrangement in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh encouraged corruption, nepotism but there was injustice when it came to rights of women, children, Dalits, tribal communities," Modi said.