Target 100% reach of schemes: PM Modi on 8 yrs of NDA govt

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that his government has made an honest attempt to build an India that Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel dreamt of, giving a “new direction” to the country’s development over the last eight years.

Modi, who completed eight years in office as Prime Minister on May 26, said that he did not spare any effort in his service to the nation. “I have neither allowed, nor personally done any work that will make you or even a single person of India hang their head in shame. In these years, service to the poor, ‘sushasan’ and ‘gareeb kalyan’ were accorded the highest priority,” he said.

The government has made efforts to ensure that welfare schemes are accessible to all citizens, the PM said. “Our government is running a campaign to ensure the schemes become 100% accessible to the citizens. When the goal is to provide facilities to every citizen, then discrimination also ends, there is no scope for corruption.

“In the last eight years, we have made an honest attempt to build the India of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel’s dream,” Modi said after inaugurating a 200-bed multispecialty hospital in Atkot town of Gujarat’s Rajkot.

“Mahatma Gandhi wanted an India in which the poor, Dalits, adivasi and women are empowered, where cleanliness and health are part of life, where economy is based on swadeshi (local) solutions,” Modi said as he listed his government’s achievements.

In the last eight years, “pucca” houses were provided to over 30 million families, 100 million families were saved from the ignominy of open defecation (by way of constructing toilets), 90 million women were saved from the adverse impacts of smoke (by providing LPG connections), electricity connections were provided to 25 million families and tap water connections were given to 60 million families, and over 500 million people are now covered under the PMJAY insurance scheme, Modi said.

“These are not just figures, but this is a proof of our commitment to provide dignity to the poor of the country. In the last eight years, my government has worked for the upliftment of the poor,” he said.

“With the mantra of sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas aur sab ka prayas, we have given new direction to the development of the country,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also lauded the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As the pandemic started, people faced difficulties in getting the food supplies. So we opened up the food grain stock of the country for the poor people. We provided financial assistance into the Jan Dhan bank accounts of women during the pandemic. We opened our health services for all those who suffered,” Modi said. “And when the vaccine came, we ensured that every Indian gets vaccinated and that too free.”

Modi, whose visit to Gujarat around six months before the assembly polls, said the double engine government (at Centre and state) has ensured fast-paced growth of Gujarat.

“Due to the double engine government, Gujarat is achieving new heights of development. Before 2014, things were different.

Hitting out at the Congress, Modi said the state government when he was chief minister proposed many projects which were rejected by the Congress-led UPA government “because they could see only Modi in them”.

“If we sent any development project files to the Centre (UPA government), they used to reject. They could not see any development project…,” he said.

“They even tried to stop the Sardar Sarovar dam project and I had to sit on a strike to get work done. I hope you all remember that. Today, with the SAUNI scheme, water from Narmada is reaching all the way to Kutch. The tallest statue in the world (Statue of Unity) of Sardar Patel is in Gujarat,” Modi said.

State assembly elections are scheduled in Gujarat in December.

Modi hailed the Patidar community trust, which has set up the 200-bed hospital in Rajkot. “Nobody should fall sick. We have to build such a lifestyle which helps us in not getting sick,” he said, also highlighting the community’s role in public service.

The PM’s address was seen as an effort to reach out to the influential Patidar community that formed nearly 14% of the state’s population.

“There was a time when people from Saurashtra people had to migrate. Today, the world is migrating to Saurashtra and Kutch. Big pharma industries are coming to Saurashtra and Gujarat. In many sectors, from automobile component manufacturing, brass parts to ceramics, Saurashtra has seen rapid progress,” he said.

Of the state’s 182 assembly seats, 48 are in the Saurashtra region.

The Prime Minister, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, proposed self-reliance as a solution to the country’s difficulties.

Addressing leaders of cooperative institutions on ‘Sahakar Se Samriddhi’ at an event in Gandhinagar after virtually inaugurating the Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at IFFCO, Kalol, PM Modi said the government is doing all that is necessary in the interest of farmers and will continue to empower them.

“Self-reliance is the solution to several difficulties of the country and cooperatives are a very good model of self-reliance. We have experienced this very successfully in Gujarat and all of you are soldiers of this,” he said.

“The example of the cooperative model of the dairy sector is in front of us. Today India is the largest milk producer in the country and Gujarat has a big contribution. In the past few years, the dairy sector has been growing and contributing to the rural economy,” the Prime Minister said.

Union home minister Amit Shah, who also holds the cooperation portfolio, was also present at the event.