New Delhi, August 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that the Panchayati Raj system is a strong pillar of Indian democracy.
He said that Zilla Panchayat has immense power to bring about major changes in any area.
The Prime Minister was addressing the two-day Regional Panchayati Raj Council held in Haryana through the virtual medium today.
He said that today the country is moving forward with determination and is united with full enthusiasm for the achievement of the resolutions of Amritkal for building a developed India.
He said that District Panchayats have the power to bring about major changes in any sector. In such a situation, the role of all of you as representatives of the BJP becomes very important.
Targeting the previous Congress government for adopting an indifferent attitude towards the Panchayati Raj system, the Prime Minister said that for four decades after independence, the Congress did not understand how necessary it was to implement the Panchayati Raj system in the villages.
He said that no concerted efforts were ever made to strengthen the Panchayati Raj institutions during Congress rule. Most of the action was limited to figures and on paper only. The Prime Minister said that Jammu and Kashmir is the biggest example of this. After the removal of Article 370, for the first time, elections from the Gramme Panchayat to the district level have been held there. In these, more than 33 thousand local people’s representatives were elected. For the first time, democracy has been established at the grassroots level.
The Prime Minister said that even after seven decades of independence, 18,000 villages had not been electrified. More than 16 crore rural centres had become hotbeds of corruption for the Congress and its like-minded parties.
Modi told the BJP Zilla Parishad leaders that the development of your district is equally important for a developed India. You should decide that in 2047 our district will also develop.
He advised the leaders to prepare a map for the next 5 years, fix targets for the work, and take its report every month. He also suggested the BJP representatives stay at some small place in their area for two nights in a week and sit with the people.
Referring to the farmer-friendly initiatives of the Central Government, the Prime Minister said that the farmers of the country have received compensation of more than Rs 1 lakh to Rs 30 thousand crore through the Crop Insurance Scheme. Just a few days ago, 1.25 lakh Kisan Samridhi Kendras were dedicated to the country as one-stop centres for farmers.
He said that all these efforts of the Central Government are proving very helpful in making life easier for the farmers and increasing their income.
The Prime Minister said that the positive impact of many of our schemes is also visible in the social and economic conditions of rural women. In the last nine years, bank accounts for about 50 crore people have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana. Most of the beneficiaries of this scheme are women.
He said, “Electoral promises are not the guarantee of Modi. When Modi gives his guarantees, he turns them into ground reality.”
He said that the campaign to give property documents to the rural population of the country is going on fast through the PM Swamitva Yojana. In states like Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, where there is a BJP government, good work has been done on this.
