Free electricity for 40M families

new delhi — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the government will provide free electricity connections to 40 million rural homes so that the poor can have access to power.

The decision will cost the government Rs160 billion which will not be passed on to the poor, Modi said. He said the connections will be delivered at the doors of the rural poor for which they would not have to go after the government officials.

The prime minister was speaking at a function to launch Sahaj Bijli

Har Ghar Yojna — the scheme for easy electricity to every household — at the renovated ONGC Bhavan, renamed after BJP ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya.

Meanwhile, the BJP on Monday

My battle against corruption is uncompromising. No one will be spared. I have no relatives

adopted a six-point agenda, seeking to rid the country of poverty, terrorism, casteism, communalism and corruption, to realise Modi’s vision of a new India by 2022, said Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

The political resolution, passed at the party’s national executive meeting, also sought to dispel concerns over the state of the economy and praised measures like GST and demonetisation.

The party supported the government’s stand on the Rohingya issue, saying it fulfilled its responsibilities by providing humanitarian

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

relief to Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees while ensuring that internal security was not compromised for its 1.25 billion citizens.

The resolution, Gadkari said, also regretted the opposition to the Modi government’s move to grant constitutional status to the OBC commission and asserted that the BJP would achieve it.

It claimed the government had “delivered” on its promise on corruption and black money, adding that demonetisation, a move which invited sharp criticism from opposition, “broke the backbone of black market as well as the black money hoarders”.

“The overwhelming public support for demonetisation needs to be underscored,” the resolution said.

The Central government’s policies had brought rewards for honesty in public life and the government deserved rich compliments for bringing in a transparent economic system, the resolution stated, praising the roll out of the GST which led to “one nation, one tax”.

The resolution also heaped praise on Modi over the government’s handling of the Doklam stand-off with China and the way he has highlighted the issue of terrorism globally, isolating Pakistan and exposing terrorist organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen.