Electricity reached every village in country: Modi
NEW DELHI: The mammoth task of taking electricity to every village of India has finally been achieved, the government said on Sunday. In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement, naming Leisang, a village in central Manipur's Senapati district, as the last one to receive electricity on Saturday.
A tweet by the Prime Minister read: “Leisang village in Manipur, like the thousands of other villages across India has been powered and empowered! This news will make every Indian proud and delighted,” he added.
In his Independence Day speech of 2015, PM Modi promised that all villages where electricity was yet to reach, would have power within 1,000 days. To create basic power infrastructure and connectivity, the government had announced a scheme named after BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya - the Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana.
A village is considered electrified if it has the basic electrical infrastructure and 10 percent of its households and public places – including schools, panchayat office and health centre – have electricity.
Taking electricity to every house remains another task. Even in villages that have electricity for long, many homes may not have power.
The reasons are many - lowincome families may not have the funds for connection charges or BPL cards that would make it free; lack of awareness of procedures and other issues.
Last year, to plug these holes and provide the last mile connectivity to every home, the government started a new scheme – the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or Saubhagya.
The PM on Sunday urged youngsters to join the Swachh Bharat Summer Internship 2008' launched by his government and announced incentives, including credit point by the UGC, for participants, saying it is an opportunity for those who want to make a change in the society.
In his monthly Mann ki Baat' broadcast, Modi also pitched for water conservation, saying it should be everyone's responsibility and asserted that his government had spent Rs 32,000 crore annually outside the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) budget, and 150 lakh acre land have benefitted from it in the last three years.
In his over 30-minute address, Modi touched on many topics, including Indian athletes', especially women's, achievement in the Commonwealth Games, people's response to his call for fitness and also paid tributes to Prophet Mohammad and Lord Buddha ahead of the month of Ramzan and Buddha Purnima' respectively.
Noting that India had carried out nuclear tests on Buddha Purnima on May 11 in 1998, when BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, Modi said youths need to imbibe Vajpayee's mantra of Jai Vigyan' (hail science) to make India modern and strong. Giving a call to students to join the Swachh Bharat' campaign during their summer vacation, he said three ministries of his government had launched an internship programme, and it is an opportunity for those who want to work for the society, contribute positively and bring about a change.
The best of the interns who have strived in schools and colleges with excellent work will be rewarded with recognition at the national level. Not just that, those interns who accomplish their tasks well will be awarded two credit points each by the UGC, Modi said.