New Delhi, January 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the previous governments for ignoring the development of the country and only raising slogans of Garibi Hatao. He said that since 2014, he has been engaged in the service of rural India and the result of that is that today rural poverty in rural India has come down to less than 5 percent.
After the inauguration of Rural India Festival-2025 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Saturday, the Prime Minister said that the great start of the year with the Rural India Festival reflects India’s development journey and creates a unique identity.
Prime Minister congratulated the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and other contributors for organizing this program. Citing the latest research report of SBI, the Prime Minister said that yesterday only the report of State Bank of India has come, according to which rural poverty in India was about 26 percent in 2012. Whereas in 2024, rural poverty has come down to less than 5 percent.
Taking a dig at the Congress’s slogan of Garibi Hatao, he said that for years the slogan of Garibi Hatao was heard but now poverty has actually reduced. Modi said that earlier governments did not pay attention to the needs of SC-ST-OBC. There was migration from villages, poverty kept increasing, the gap between village and city kept increasing. Modi has worshipped those whom no one asked. The areas which were deprived of development for decades are now getting equal rights.
He said, “All this work (of empowering villages) could have been done in earlier governments tooโฆ did we have to wait for Modi? Even decades after independence, the villages of our country were deprived of basic needs. Most of the population of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Castes live in villages. Unfortunately, previous governments ignored their needs but Modi is empowering these villages and focusing on those who were neglected earlier.”
He said that he has been serving rural India since 2014. Providing a dignified life to the people of the village is the priority of the government. Our goal is to empower rural India by turning villages into vibrant centers of development and opportunity.
Prime Minister said that under the PM-Kisan scheme, financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh crore has been given to the farmers. In the last 10 years, agricultural loans have been increased by 3.5 times. A target has been set to make three crore women in the country Lakhpati Didi and so far 1.15 crore rural women have become ‘Lakhpati Didi’. Our vision is to empower the people of the villages of India, they should get maximum opportunities to progress in the village itself, they should not have to migrate, the life of the people of the village should be easy, hence we have launched a campaign to guarantee basic facilities in every village. Special policies have been made for every section of the village.
The Prime Minister said that just two-three days ago, the Cabinet has approved the continuation of ‘PM Crop Insurance Scheme’ for one more year. The price of DAP is increasing in the world, it is skyrocketing, but we decided that we will not let the burden fall on the farmers and we have kept the price of DAP stable by increasing the subsidy. The intention, policy and decision of our government are filling rural India with new energy.
He said that apart from agriculture, many people associated with different types of traditional arts and skills work in our villages. They have contributed a lot to the rural economy and local economy, but earlier they were also neglected. Now we are running PM Vishwakarma Yojana for them. This scheme is giving an opportunity to move forward to lakhs of Vishwakarma friends of the country.
