PM hits out at Congress for failing poor on ‘garibi hatao’

The Prime Minister, on his maiden trip to his Lok Sabha constituency after assuming office, said poverty alleviation measures have lacked a proper direction and they are spoken about only during election time as a “tradition”.

He also took a dig at the his critics on ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’,  saying: “What these people could not do in 50 years, I will do in 50 months, I have come here to tell this.” 

“We have been hearing about ‘garibi hatao’ for the last 40-50 years. In elections also, we have been hearing about poverty alleviation programmes. It has become a tradition in politics to talk about the poor and their welfare. There is need to come out of this tradition,” Modi said.

The PM said as of now all experiments in this regard have not yielded the desired results and “we have not been able to bring the desired changes in the lives of the poor. I don’t want to blame any government, but want to focus on things so that the poor can come out of poverty.” The PM wondered why none of the educated ever questioned any politician in the past as to why bank accounts were not opened for the poor. “Banks were nationalised in the country 25 years ago, but it did not help the poor to gain access to these financial institutions.”

“No educated person has ever asked any politician why bank accounts were not opened for the poor. It was taken for granted,” he said, adding that under the PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana over 18 crore bank accounts were opened and the poor have deposited Rs 30,000 crore of their money in such accounts after his government was formed.

“Those who did not open any bank accounts for the poor are today seeking my accountability on the issue. They are worried whether the new bank accounts we opened are operational.

“It would have been much better had these people worked in last 40-50 years to open doors of banks to poverty stricken people. They would not have to asked me such questions today What these people could not do in 50 years, I will do in 50 months, I have come here to tell them this,” he said.

Modi stressed on skill development and said if technology is allowed to enter the lives of the  poor, they can earn more and become self-reliant. He earlier distributed 101 e-rickshaws and another 501 cycle-rickshaws to poor people who never owned a rickshaw in their lifetime.

Modi said this programme is not just to change the lives of a few people but a new beginning that will change the future of ‘Kashi’ and its poor.

The Prime Minister also launched a Rs 45,000-crore Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS), which will strengthen the distribution networks and ensure 24x7 power supply to all by 2022.

“In the entire country, about Rs 45,000 crore will be spent under IPDS. This scheme will address many issues, including fraud, related to the power sector especially in the urban areas,” Modi said. He added one of the important tasks of the government is to provide 24x7 power supply to all by 2022 and this scheme is an effort in that direction.

The IPDS will cover works relating to strengthening sub-transmission and distribution system, including provisioning of solar panels, metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumer in urban areas and IT enablement of distribution sector. Modi said: “Power supply is available for 4-6 hours in some remote areas of the country. It is our target to provide 24x7 supply to all by 2022, even in remote areas. This is a tall order but there is no other ways but to strengthen power distribution networks."