BJP President Shri Venkaiah Naidu today said the government should withdraw from business activities and instead focus more on infrastructure and development. The BJP President said this today morning while launching the "Gram Chalo Abhiyan" at Nahri village in Sonepat district of Haryana before a festive crowd of about 5,000 people.
Shri Naidu pointed out that in the early fifties, it had been necessary for the Government to invest into business and industry since at that time there was dearth of private capital. The main objective of the government for setting up different types of industries was to ensure that people's aspirations could be met as also some sort of regional parity could be maintained in the development of the country. However, today the need of the hour is to undertake a serious re-assessment of the entire policy of Government money being invested into business enterprises as also according the highest priority to infrastructural development.
Launching a scathing attack on the policies of successive Congress governments at the center in the past for neglecting the rural areas, the BJP President lamented that it was indeed a matter of shame that even after 55 years of independence half of the villages are languishing in poverty, illiteracy, darkness and deprived of basic amenities. Giving an exhaustive illustration of the pitiable situation in rural India, Shri Naidu observed that about 1,60,000 villages with more than 500 population each still do not have internal road facilities, 80,000 villages are without electricity and 2,30,000 villages without telephone connectivity. Moreover, over 1,00,000 villages do not have proper school buildings and basic health facilities and 2,17,000 villages are still battling with water quality problem.
The BJP President observed that it is indeed unfortunate that despite being in power for 47 years, successive Congress governments had done little to provide villages the basic requirements for a dignified living such as housing, clean drinking water, health facilities, education, sanitation, drainage and internal roads. He said it was indeed shocking that even today 80 % of the population does not have basic sanitation facilities. Moreover, the unorganized sector in the rural areas was not give its due in the last 50 years. Shri Naidu said that the 47 years of Congress rule had only ensured that the entire system of development was entangled in an urban bias.
The BJP President said that today the need of the hour was building a positive discrimination in favor of the rural people, enhance focus on developmental activities in the rural areas and above all reduce the gap of the rural-urban divide. He said that with the proliferation of the electronic media, people even in far-flung places are becoming aware of the development activities taking place across the country.
Shri Naidu pointed out that the Vajpayee led NDA Government was the first government in the history of independent India to devote about 60% of the budget exclusively for the rural areas and development. The NDA Government was firmly committed towards taking care of the needs of the rural people particularly in the areas of housing, employment, education, connectivity, communication, health and sanitation.
While highlighting the achievements of the NDA Government, Shri Naidu listed some of the prominent schemes launched by the Government including the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Accelerated Rural Irrigation Benefit Programme, Accelerated Rural Electrification Programme, the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, strengthening of the Self Help Group Movement, massive constructions of godowns for storage of foodgrains, the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme among others.
Shri Naidu also pointed out that the NDA Government had enhanced the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) from Rs 2000 crore to Rs 5000 crores, enhanced rural credit from Rs 40,000 crores to Rs 75,000 crores, brought down interest rates from 11 % to 9.5 %, introduced crop insurance scheme, set up a crop insurance corporation, introduced and distributed over 3 crore Kisan Credit Cards and built over 70 lakh houses for the rural poor under the Awaas Yojana.
The BJP President said that it was for all to see the difference between 47 years of neglect as compared with 4 years of focused initiatives by the Vajpayee led NDA Government. Shri Naidu called upon the Government to introduce further initiatives for the people living in the rural areas and also introduce a Constitutional Amendment for bringing about further decentralization in the Panchayati Raj System. He said the Government should provide for Funds, Functions and Functionaries to the local bodies.
The BJP President came down heavily on the successive Congress regimes for giving a deaf ear to Mahatma Gandhi's call of Back to the Villages. He sarcastically added that the Congress Governments had infact only shown their backs to the villages and looked towards the urban areas.
Earlier in the morning, Shri Naidu reached Nahri village and had breakfast with the villagers, visited some agricultural fields and was apprised about the local problems of the community. On being informed that despite a road being sanctioned for the village under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and tender being called three times, unfortunately the road construction work had not started. He assured the villagers that he would take up the matter with the concerned authorities.
Other prominent leaders who participated in the programme included Union Labour Minister Shri Saheb Singh Varma, Union Minister of State for Home Shri I D Swamy, BJP MP Sonepat Shri K S Sangwan, Dr Harshvardhan, BJP National Vice President, Om Prakash Dhankar, All India BJP Secretary, Ratanlal Kataria, Haryana BJP President, Dr Sudha Yadav, MP, Ramchandra Bhenda, MP, Om Prakash Atre, BJP Sonepat District President among others.
Shri Naidu pointed out that in the early fifties, it had been necessary for the Government to invest into business and industry since at that time there was dearth of private capital. The main objective of the government for setting up different types of industries was to ensure that people's aspirations could be met as also some sort of regional parity could be maintained in the development of the country. However, today the need of the hour is to undertake a serious re-assessment of the entire policy of Government money being invested into business enterprises as also according the highest priority to infrastructural development.
Launching a scathing attack on the policies of successive Congress governments at the center in the past for neglecting the rural areas, the BJP President lamented that it was indeed a matter of shame that even after 55 years of independence half of the villages are languishing in poverty, illiteracy, darkness and deprived of basic amenities. Giving an exhaustive illustration of the pitiable situation in rural India, Shri Naidu observed that about 1,60,000 villages with more than 500 population each still do not have internal road facilities, 80,000 villages are without electricity and 2,30,000 villages without telephone connectivity. Moreover, over 1,00,000 villages do not have proper school buildings and basic health facilities and 2,17,000 villages are still battling with water quality problem.
The BJP President observed that it is indeed unfortunate that despite being in power for 47 years, successive Congress governments had done little to provide villages the basic requirements for a dignified living such as housing, clean drinking water, health facilities, education, sanitation, drainage and internal roads. He said it was indeed shocking that even today 80 % of the population does not have basic sanitation facilities. Moreover, the unorganized sector in the rural areas was not give its due in the last 50 years. Shri Naidu said that the 47 years of Congress rule had only ensured that the entire system of development was entangled in an urban bias.
The BJP President said that today the need of the hour was building a positive discrimination in favor of the rural people, enhance focus on developmental activities in the rural areas and above all reduce the gap of the rural-urban divide. He said that with the proliferation of the electronic media, people even in far-flung places are becoming aware of the development activities taking place across the country.
Shri Naidu pointed out that the Vajpayee led NDA Government was the first government in the history of independent India to devote about 60% of the budget exclusively for the rural areas and development. The NDA Government was firmly committed towards taking care of the needs of the rural people particularly in the areas of housing, employment, education, connectivity, communication, health and sanitation.
While highlighting the achievements of the NDA Government, Shri Naidu listed some of the prominent schemes launched by the Government including the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Accelerated Rural Irrigation Benefit Programme, Accelerated Rural Electrification Programme, the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, strengthening of the Self Help Group Movement, massive constructions of godowns for storage of foodgrains, the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme among others.
Shri Naidu also pointed out that the NDA Government had enhanced the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) from Rs 2000 crore to Rs 5000 crores, enhanced rural credit from Rs 40,000 crores to Rs 75,000 crores, brought down interest rates from 11 % to 9.5 %, introduced crop insurance scheme, set up a crop insurance corporation, introduced and distributed over 3 crore Kisan Credit Cards and built over 70 lakh houses for the rural poor under the Awaas Yojana.
The BJP President said that it was for all to see the difference between 47 years of neglect as compared with 4 years of focused initiatives by the Vajpayee led NDA Government. Shri Naidu called upon the Government to introduce further initiatives for the people living in the rural areas and also introduce a Constitutional Amendment for bringing about further decentralization in the Panchayati Raj System. He said the Government should provide for Funds, Functions and Functionaries to the local bodies.
The BJP President came down heavily on the successive Congress regimes for giving a deaf ear to Mahatma Gandhi's call of Back to the Villages. He sarcastically added that the Congress Governments had infact only shown their backs to the villages and looked towards the urban areas.
Earlier in the morning, Shri Naidu reached Nahri village and had breakfast with the villagers, visited some agricultural fields and was apprised about the local problems of the community. On being informed that despite a road being sanctioned for the village under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and tender being called three times, unfortunately the road construction work had not started. He assured the villagers that he would take up the matter with the concerned authorities.
Other prominent leaders who participated in the programme included Union Labour Minister Shri Saheb Singh Varma, Union Minister of State for Home Shri I D Swamy, BJP MP Sonepat Shri K S Sangwan, Dr Harshvardhan, BJP National Vice President, Om Prakash Dhankar, All India BJP Secretary, Ratanlal Kataria, Haryana BJP President, Dr Sudha Yadav, MP, Ramchandra Bhenda, MP, Om Prakash Atre, BJP Sonepat District President among others.
(Nalin Satyakam Kohli)
Joint Convenor- Media Cell
Joint Convenor- Media Cell
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