Self-reliance biggest lesson from COVID-19 crisis: PM Modi

New Delhi, Apr 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the biggest lesson the COVID-19 pandemic has taught India is to become self-reliant.

During an interaction with sarpanches from across the country through video conferencing, PM Modi said, "the biggest lesson COVID-19 has taught us is to become self-reliant," Modi said, underlining that it is now imperative that villages also become self-reliant for their basic needs.

Modi said the coronavirus pandemic has thrown up new challenges which the country never faced before, but it also made people learn new things. Applauding people for observing lockdown rules, the prime minister said it is because of them, the entire world today is talking about how India has responded to COVID-19 crisis.

Despite limited resources amid the coronavirus crisis, citizens are taking on this challenge instead of succumbing to difficulties, he said.

"Villages have shown that our traditions, culture and learnings are from the ground up and not the other way around. Villages have handled the crisis better than cities. They are handling social distancing better and with more discipline. There is much to learn from you all," he said, adding, "What we see in this crisis is ideas and things being done in villages that we don't even see in urban centres, where people have better education".

The PM called for people, "from cities to villages", to learn from this crisis and "be self-sufficient and not depend on others for anything we need in our daily lives".

"It is because of efforts of our people that entire world today is talking about how India has responded to Covid-19 crisis. Despite limited resources amid coronavirus crisis, citizens are taking on this challenge instead of succumbing to difficulties," said PM Modi.