PM interacts with Arnia Sarpanch, calls for spreading welfare schemes

PM Narendra Modi interacting with Sarpanch Balbir Kaur in Arnia border area of Jammu district via video conferencing on Thursday.
PM Narendra Modi interacting with Sarpanch Balbir Kaur in Arnia border area of Jammu district via video conferencing on Thursday.

Kaur lauds Modi, Sinha for pro-farmer measures

*Benefits must reach last person in queue

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today interacted with beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra via video conferencing including Sarpanch Balbir Kaur of village Rangpur in border area of Arnia in Jammu district who won applause from Modi for having data on her finger tips.
During interaction with Balbir Kaur in Arnia via video conferencing from New Delhi, Modi emphasized the need to create awareness about attaining saturation of Government schemes and suggested Balbir Kaur to reach out to 10 neighbouring villages and spread the word.
He underlined the belief that all the benefits reach the last person standing in the queue.
Throwing light on the purpose of Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, the Prime Minister said that it aims to learn from the experiences of the existing beneficiaries and also encompass those who have not yet availed the benefits.
Balbir Kaur, Sarpanch of village Rangpur and a farmer from Arnia in Jammu district informed the Prime Minister that she has availed the benefits of multiple Government schemes namely Kisan Credit Card Scheme, Farm Machinery Bank Scheme and Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna.
She further added that her village is located near the Indo-Pak border.
Modi congratulated her for being the owner of a tractor that was purchased using Kisan Credit Card and complimented her on having data of her area on her finger tips.
Balbir Kaur quipped: “Aap se hi seekha hai grassroots par kaam karna. Kaam karti hoon aur bhoolti nahi hoon (I have learnt from you to work at the grassroots and not forget details of the work)”.
Later, speaking to the Excelsior on telephone from Arnia, Balbir Kaur, who has always in forefront in championing the cause of farmers and locals, said it was a dream come true for her on speaking directly to the Prime Minister through her sheer hard work and not through any approach.
“Earlier on July 26, 2020, the Prime Minister mentioned my name in Mann Ki Baat Radio address but today he spoke to me. I have not much dreams but this was my dream to talk to the Prime Minister for which I worked hard and my dream has come true,” Kaur said.
The Sarpanch declared that the farmers are all happy with the Prime Minister as well as Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for pro-farmer welfare measures.
“After shelling from Pakistan side on October 26, we spoke to the Lieutenant Governor, who arranged machines for crop cutting which cost us just Rs 1500 per acre instead of Rs 4500 per acre cost. We are getting good electricity supply through the efforts of LG Manoj Sinha,” Balbir Kaur said.
On the Prime Minister asking her to spread message to at least 10 more Panchayats on welfare measures, she said not 10 but she will reach out to the people of 100 Panchayats and brief people on pro-framer schemes of the Government.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with beneficiaries of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra via video conferencing today. He also launched Pradhan Mantri Mahila Kisan Drone Kendra.
During the program, Modi dedicated the landmark 10,000th Jan Aushadhi Kendra at AIIMS, Deoghar. Further, he also launched the program to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras in the country from 10,000 to 25,000.
The Prime Minister announced both these initiatives, providing drones to women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and increasing the number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras from 10,000 to 25,000, during his Independence Day speech earlier this year. The program marks the fulfillment of these promises.
PTI adds:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted today that his work in the last 10 years has led to people having immense confidence in his Government as he faulted past dispensations for acting like “mai baap” of citizens, with vote bank considerations guiding their development initiatives.
In his address to beneficiaries of different schemes as part of the Government’s Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra for saturation coverage of welfare schemes, he said four biggest “castes” for him are the poor, youth, women, farmers, and their rise will make India developed.
The yatra, under which Government ‘raths’ (chariots) are travelling to all corners, has generated huge enthusiasm among people with some describing the vehicles as “Modi ki guarantee wali gaadi” (vehicles carrying Modi’s guarantees), the Prime Minister said, asserting that the masses know that he will fulfil all his promises.
For this he needs their blessings, he said, underscoring that the programme will identify everyone left out of welfare schemes aimed for them and that he will ensure their saturation coverage in the coming years.
A voice is emerging from people across the country that Modi’s guarantee begins from where people’s expectations from others end, he said.
In his remarks after interacting with the beneficiaries, Modi said Bharat is neither going to stop nor tire as the people have resolved to make the country developed.
“In various corners of the country there is such enthusiasm for the yatra and there is a reason for it, as people have seen Modi, his work, in the last 10 years and therefore, they have immense confidence in the Government and its efforts.”
“People have also seen that period when past Governments used to consider themselves ‘mai-baap’ of the people. Therefore, even after decades of independence, a big portion of the population was deprived of basic facilities,” Modi said.
Mai-baap is a Hindi term which loosely translates here as a Government having a feudal mindset.
More than half the population had lost faith in Government as they had to depend on middlemen and running around offices to seek any benefit while his dispensation is reaching out to the masses to enrol them for various welfare measures, he said. Earlier Governments were driven by political calculations and vote bank considerations, he said.
“Therefore, the people never used to trust the announcements of such ‘mai-baap’ Governments. We have changed this and the Government in place now considers people as form of God and we work with ‘seva bhav’ not ‘satta bhav’,” Modi said.
He said that in just 15 days of the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, people are walking along and joining it. Until now, the vehicle of ‘Modi ki guarantee’ has reached over 12,000 panchayats and more than 30 lakh people have benefited from it, the Prime Minister said.
“Mothers and sisters are reaching out to this vehicle of ‘Modi ki guarantee’. The initiative has taken the shape of a people’s movement and people are taking it forward,” he said.
Many panchayats have received saturation coverage without any discrimination, he said, asserting that the youth are taking the lead in popularising the exercise and spearheading the goal to make India developed.
Underscoring his commitment, he said he went to a remote tribal region in Khunti to launch the yatra instead of doing it at a place like Vigyan Bhawan, a venue associated with official programmes.
The Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra is being undertaken across the country with an aim to attain saturation of flagship schemes of the Government by ensuring that the benefits of these schemes reach all targeted beneficiaries in a time bound manner, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).