PM Modi launches 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the 'Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana' under which Lok Sabha MPs will choose a village panchayat from within their constituency to ensure overall development of the village.

The scheme, which has been inaugurated on the birth anniversary of social reformer Jaiprakash Narayan, aims to provide access to health, education, sanitation and smart schools to the adopted villages.

Recalling the great leader Jai Prakash Narayan, the Prime Minister said that he took a lot of inspiration from him.

"Today is the birth anniversary of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan. His contribution is indispensible in the history of India and he inspires us to a great extent," he said.

The Prime Minister also said that he will be selecting a village for himself very soon.

"I have toured for over 40 years and have visited about 400 districts. I got to see more than 5,000 villages outside Gujarat and that is why I know the ground reality. I too have to select a village for Varanasi and I have received the guidelines. I will go there soon, then discuss and decide," said Prime Minister Modi.

He also stressed on the need to formulate schemes in accordance with the changing times to make them more effective.

"Each government has tried to make the conditions of villages better in their own unique way. Schemes must be formulated in accordance with the changing times and the speed of change must also increase," he explained.

"There are several villages that make model villages, but not all villages are a model village which means that there is a lot more to be done beyond implementing government schemes. We are around 800 MPs, if every year we make three model villages, then by 2019 we will reach about 2500 villages," the Prime Minister said.

He also stated that if the states can also launch such a scheme for MLAs, there will be many more model villages.

"If on the basis of this Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, the states also launch scheme for MLAs, we will be able to make more model villages. Apart from his/her own village, MPs can select whichever village they want," he added.

"It is important that we take interest, create an environment in villages so that each villager takes pride in his/her village," said Prime Minister Modi.

Inspired by the principles and values of Mahatma Gandhi, the scheme places equal stress on nurturing values of national pride, patriotism, community spirit, self-confidence and on developing infrastructure.