Amit Shah Lays Thrust On Rural Development, Lauds PM Modi’s Initiatives

Shah said the students, who have been conferred their degrees today, will be working to realizing the dream of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah at IRMA Annual Convocation (Image: PIB)

New Delhi: Asserting rural development is not theoretical, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said it happens only when people devoted to it committedly work for villages. “If rural development is to be done in modern times, then its curriculum has to be suited to the times, it has to be formalized and according to the needs of today's times, rural development will have to be converted and implemented on the ground,” Shah said addressing the 41st Annual Convocation of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) on the third day of his Gujarat visit.

“I believe that IRMA has taken it to the ground level in this holy land of Sardar Patel and Tribhuvan Bhai,” he added.

Shah said the students, who have been conferred their degrees today, will be working to realizing the dream of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

“Without accelerating rural development, making rural development a contributor to country's economy and taking every person living in the village towards prosperity through rural development, India can never be self-reliant,” said Shah.

“Today, my request to the students, who have been conferred degrees, is that you should keep working for rural development in the country throughout your life because no one can stop you from contributing,” he added.

Today, by giving Guru Dakshina to IRMA and taking a vow that throughout your life your vision will be related to rural development and will be engaged in enriching the poor in villages

Shah said Mahatma Gandhi had said that the soul of India resides in its villages.

“If India is to become prosperous, comfortable and self-reliant, then the village has to be made prosperous, comfortable and self-reliant and this was started in 2014 by Shri Narendra Modi. It has happened since he became the Prime Minister,” he added.

The Union Home Minister said Prime Minister Modi placed a new vision for rural development before the nation and the world.

“The village does not develop until the development of the individual takes place. Unless an area is developed, the village cannot develop. Only after development of the people, making their life convenient, development of the village and the area, the dream of rural development can be fulfilled,” he added.

Shah said Prime Minister Modi-led government has done much in the last eight years for the development of the individual, the village and the region.

“There were 60 crore people, who did not have a bank account and they were not connected with the economy. Today there is no family which does not have a bank account in the last eight years,” he added.

Shah said that there were many such families in Purvanchal where electricity had not reached even after 70 years of Independence.

“The task of providing electricity to every household was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even minimum requirements like a toilet in every house was not fulfilled and Narendra Modi started the campaign of cleanliness and today every house has a toilet. Arrangements have been made to supply fluoride-free pure water from taps in every house,” he added.

The Union Home Minister said Prime Minister Modi-led government has provided cooking gas to every poor household.

“Along with this, the government led by Shri Narendra Modi has provided health facilities up to Rs. 5 lakh to the 60 crore poor, by issuing health cards under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Yojana. To make life comfortable and to improve their standard of living, the government led by Shri NarendraModi has done much work,” he added.

Shah said the village cannot become a contributor to the national economy without rural development and added 70 percent of the country's talent will be  deprived of the benefits of economic development until this happens.