Women power is foundation of rural economy, broadband develops big pool of skilled youth in villages: PM Modi

New Delhi, Feb 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed a webinar on the positive impact of Union Budget 2022 on water and sanitation under 'Har Ghar Jal'.

Speaking at the occasion, the PM reiterated the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas as the inspiration behind all the policies and actions of the government. "Our pledges for the Azadi Ka Amrit kaal will be realized only with the efforts of everyone and everyone will be able to make that effort only when every individual, section and region gets the full benefit of development", Modi said.

On February 1, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed to cover villages on the northern border under the new Vibrant Villages Programme.

PM Modi said that the budget has given clear road map for achieving the goal of saturation of government development measures and schemes and how basic amenities can reach to cent percent population. "The Budget has made essential allocations for every scheme like PM Awas Yojana, Gramin Sadak Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, connectivity of North-East, broadband in villages", he said. "Similarly, Vibrant Village programme, announced in the budget is very important for the border villages", he added.

The Prime Minister elaborated on the priorities of the government and said that Prime Minister's Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) will ensure saturation of basic amenities in the North-East region. Similarly, Svamitva Scheme is helping in properly demarcating residences and land in villages as more than 40 lakh property cards have been issued. With measures like Unique land identification PIN, dependence of rural people on the revenue officials will decrease. He asked the state governments to work with a time-line for linking land records and demarcation solutions with modern technology. "For achieving 100 per cent coverage in different schemes, we will have to focus on new technology, so that projects get completed with speed and quality is not compromised also", he added.

Talking about the target of 4 crore water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Prime Minister asked to enhance the efforts and appealed to every state government to be very vigilant about the quality of the pipelines and water that is proposed to be provided. "One of the key features of this scheme is that there should be a sense of ownership at the village level and 'water governance' is strengthened. Keeping all this in Mind, we have to take tap water to every household by 2024", the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that rural digital connectivity is no longer mere aspiration but has become a necessity. "Broadband will not only provide facilities in the villages but will also create a big pool of skilled youth in the villages", he said. Broadband, the Prime Minister said, will expand the service sector to increase capabilities in the country. He also emphasized need for proper awareness regarding proper use of the broadband capabilities where the work is already completed.

The Prime Minister underlined the role of woman power as the foundation of rural economy. "Financial inclusion has ensured better participation of women in the financial decisions of the families. There is a need to push this participation of women further through self-help groups", he added.

In conclusion, the Prime Minister suggested many ways of improving governance for rural development from his experience. He suggested that it will be helpful that all agencies responsible for rural issues should sit together on regular intervals to ensure synergy and coordination. "More than the availability of money, it is the presence of siloes and lack of convergence that is the problem", he said. He suggested many innovative ways such as making the border villages venue of various competitions, retired government officials benefitting their villages with their administrative experience.

He also suggested that deciding on a day as birthday of the village and celebrating it with a spirit of solving the problems of the village will strengthen the attachment of the people with their village and will enrich the rural life. Measures like Krishi Vigyan Kendras selecting few farmers for natural farming, villages deciding about removing mal-nutrition and dropout rates will lead to much better outcomes for India's villages, he said.