PM Addresses Rally In BR Ambedkar’s Birthplace : Highlights

Mangalore Today News Network

Mhow, Apr 14, 2016: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow.

Below are the highlights:

It is my good fortune to seek blessings from the land where Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar was born on his 125th birth anniversary.
   
I have come here in the past but there is a difference between then and now.
  
I congratulate Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan for his work.
   
Baba Saheb Ambedkar wasn’t just a man. He was a virtue.
   
He fought not against people but against social evils.
   
A person who has so much knowledge, had opportunities all over the world.
  
 But he wanted to do something for India’s oppressed.
   
From today to the 24th we are launching a massive campaign.
   
After so many years of independence, the way the lives of our villages should have changed with the times, - it is unfortunate that a lot is left to do.
India cant progress with the progress of a handful of cities nor with the contribution of a few investors.
   
We have to take the villages ahead for India’s progress.

Our budget this time is 100 per cent dedicated to the villages and farmers.

All our sources of development have to be diverted to the progress of villages.
   
From time to time, I keep reviewing our progress.
I asked my officers how many villages in India don’t have electricity, still live in 18th century.
   
I thought it would be a few hundred. But I was told after nearly 70 years of independence there were 18,000 villages where power hasn’t reached.
   
In the country of Baba Saheb, 18K villages live in darkness, this is unacceptable.
   
When I asked how much time it would take, they said it would take 7 years.
   
When I said they have to do it faster, they said six years.
   
But from the Red Fort, on Aug 15, I announced we would do it 1000 days. But now I hope we can do it sooner.
   
And this process is transparent, you can check on your phone which villages have already got the power.
   
Today we need optical fibre. We need an optical fibre network in 2.5 lakh villages. It may be difficult but we can’t give up, we have to do it.
   
Our farmers, if they are given some water he can grow gold in his fields.
   
All a farmer wants is to fill stomachs of others, he doesn’t shy away from hard work.
   
By 2019 I want to double the income of our farmers. Many economists have said it is very difficult.
   
If it had been easy, the country wouldn’t have asked me to do it.

Till we can increase the purchasing power of our villages, our economy wont grow.
   
Baba Saheb Ambedkar wanted us to be educated, united and fight together. He was in favour of social justice. He was in favour of technology.
   
Today from the treasury of the Indian government a village gets Rs. 75 lakh every year.
   
If this money is put to planned use, imagine the progress we can bring.

The entire Indore district is now open defecation free. This is a great tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar.