Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation

Addressing the Neglected Fundamentals

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Krishi – the vision and resolve to empower India’s farmers continues to see greater realization. Despite continuous efforts to spread misinformation by a certain motivated section who have been opposing the passage of the Farm Bills, the procurement of paddy showed an increase of 20.18% over last year. It augurs well to see that about 18.91 lakh paddy farmers have benefitted from the procurement in the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season with MSP value of Rs. 42422 Crores. The procurement is proceeding apace and the overall scenario continues to be robust and full of hope.

The Modi government’s energies continue to be directed at laying the foundations of a New India. This New India’s foundations can only be firm and long-lasting, eternal and unshakable, when the people who constitute the soul and body of India – the vast marginal majority are brought into the mainstream and are provided with the fundamentals that was promised to them since the early days of independence. PM Modi had promised to ensure the availability of those fundamentals and basics of life for the marginal that had either been promised and not delivered or had been overlooked for decades. In keeping with this commitment PM Modi has launched a people’s movement every year and each of these, aimed altering mindsets and conditions of living, have brought about profound changes in our collective living.

The ‘Har Ghar Jal’, movement, for instance, is an unprecedented effort which aims at rectifying the historic neglect of fundamentals. In keeping with his promise of enhancing and ensuring ‘ease of living’, especially for those living in the rural areas, Prime Minister Modi had initiated this gigantic and transformative outreach-project. Besides improving the quality of “lives of women of every household” in rural India who have to endure great hardship in trying to ensure that the household is well supplied with water, this mission shall bring a huge relief to this section on whom much depends. Besides enhancing their health indices, it will also bring in a much needed and welcomed leisure in their lives. They had been liberated from the ‘smoke trap’ through the Ujjwala Yojana movement, they will be further empowered once they are freed from this tedious and tiresome chore of collecting water.

Apart from providing safe water, this special initiative is also creating employment for the local people in the rural areas because “Skilled manpower in every village i.e. plumbing, masonry, electrical, pump operator, etc. are required, for which training is being imparted.” The ‘100 days’ campaign launched under this outreach on October 2nd, by Prime Minister Modi is aimed at making “provision for piped water supply in schools anganwadi centres and ashram shalas” (residential schools in tribal areas) so that children in these schools have access to safe water and better health and immunity Strange isn’t it that those who constantly berate the Modi government, never spared a thought for these basics, despite being in power for over five decades. Even those who came to power in certain states, in the name of serving the proletariat, often ignored these essentials, they resorted to slogans but hardly ever delivered these.

On the other hand, the Modi government has truly heralded the era of governance, performance and accountability. The common, the ordinary citizen believes that the march towards realizing the vision of a ‘New India’ has begun with their empowerment and inclusion.

 

(The writer is a Member, National Executive Committee (NEC), BJP and Chairman of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation. Views expressed are personal)