The youth should provide leadership in rural development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday.
Addressing the 36th convocation of the Gandhigram Rural Institute, he said understanding Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of rural development was important. He wanted villages to progress and, at the same time, he wanted the values of rural life to be conserved.
”When it comes to rural development, we must take care of sustainability. The youth need to provide leadership in this,” he said.
Sustainable agriculture was crucial to the future of rural areas, he said. “We have already begun work in this direction. Our organic farming scheme is doing wonders, especially in the northeast,” he said, and asked the youth to play an important role in creating awareness on natural farming in villages.
Another important point the youth must focus on was sustainable farming, he said. “The time has come to save agriculture from mono-culture,” he said. Many kinds of millets were mentioned even in the Sangam era. Many native varieties of grains, millets and other crops loved by the people of ancient Tamil Nadu need to be revived as they were nutritious and climate-resilient,” he added.
Noting that the installed capacity of solar energy has increased about 20-fold in the last eight years, Mr. Modi said the country will be self-reliant in energy as well, once the installation of solar energy becomes widespread in villages.
Gujarat Model
Citing Vinoba Bhave, an ardent Gandhian, who opined that elections for village-level locals tend to be divisive, the Prime Minister said Samras Gram Yojana, initiated in Gujarat, helped solve the issue by giving incentives to villages that chose their leaders through mutual agreement. He encouraged the youth to develop a similar mechanism across India to unite the villages and combat issues like crime, drug addiction etc.
Tamil Sangamam
Stating that Tamil Nadu, which played a crucial role in the Swadeshi movement, will once again play such a role in Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said the State had always been a “home of national conscience”.
“Kashi Tamil Sangamam will be conducted soon to celebrate the bond between the two (Kashi and Tamil Nadu) as well as Tamil Nadu’s language, culture and history. The love and respect for each other is the basis of unity,” he said.
