PM launches model village scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana' promising to bring a demand driven model for village development and expressed confidence that the scheme with its "constructive politics" will have a "viral effect" across the nation.

Under the programme, each MP will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019.

Elaborating his views on development, he said, "A debate is going on for long. Whether it should be from top to bottom or from bottom to the top. Discussions do help. But those who are working have to begin work somewhere...The talk about bottom to top and top to bottom will continue in the academic world."

"We want to work. We want to see whether we can bring change through public participation... I am not claiming that I will change the situation all of a sudden...This schemes is not the ultimate. Changes and improvement will come in this with the passage of time," he said.

Noting that ever since the country got freedom, all governments worked for rural development in their own way, he added "this effort has to go on continuously incorporating changes according to changing times.

Quoting socialist icon Jai Prakash Narayan, the Prime Minister said that while democracy and politics were inseparable, damage was often caused by bad politics.

"This scheme would inspire a movement towards good politics, with MPs acting as facilitators and catalytic agents," the Prime Minister said.

Referring repeatedly to Mahatma Gandhi and JP, he said the scheme under which each MP will take responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in one village by 2016 and three villages by 2019, is "not a scheme about money".

He said though government schemes were working across the country, in each state there were a few villages that the state could be proud of.

"This shows that there was something extra that the leadership and people in those villages had done, beyond government schemes. This something extra is the spirit behind Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana," the Prime Minister said.

"The model of our development has been supply driven. Schemes are made in Delhi and Lucknow and are pushed further. We want to change it from supply driven to demand driven," he said.

The Prime Minister said that after his extensive tour of rural India, he has has come to a view that villages can be developed only through participation of people.

"This is not a money driven scheme. This is people's driven and is going to march ahead with people's participation...The aspirations of the people living in villages are no less than aspirations of those living in cities," he said.

The Prime Minister added that if one village is developed in a block, it is also likely to have a "viral" effect and development would permeate in other villages also.

"We are nearly 800 MPs. If before 2019 we develop three villages each, we reach nearly 2,500 villages. If in the light of this scheme, the states also create a similar scheme for MLAs, then 6-7000 more villages can be added," Modi said hoping that this will have a cascading effect elsewhere.

Speaking about the scheme, the PM said that there is flexibility and an MP is free to choose any village. The only condition is that it should not be his own village or that of his in laws.

"I also have to choose a village in Varanasi," Modi said and added that he would go there, discuss and choose a village. He also said that an atmosphere should be created where every person is proud of his or her village.

Maintaining that the scheme will give the MPs a sense of satisfaction of having done something for which he will be remembered in future, the Prime Minister said, "Whichever party the MP belongs to, he or she has to keep working among people and lot of his time is taken to get the work done from government officers."

The Prime Minister said that various government schemes often worked in isolation - and this scheme would help MPs point out the bottlenecks in these schemes, leading to an outcome-oriented approach.

He said that once this schemes comes, it will bring to fore "many loopholes in the governmental system" and stressed "I have not taken a small risk".

Stating that Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana would provide a flexible approach towards development, he hoped that "Adarsh grams" would become places of pilgrimage for people interested in learning about rural development.

Rural Development Nitin Gadkari spoke of the "total revolution" call by JP while the Prime Minister recalled the contribution of social worker and RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh towards making villages self sufficient and his close association with Lok Nayak.

He also referred to Acharya Vinoba Bhave, the proponent of Bhoodan movement.

Modi also made a brief reference of Champaran Satyagrah of Mahatama Gandhi, saying the Father of the Nation planted the seed of public movement in a village itself.