Modi announces initiative for model villages

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday announced a new initiative under which each MP would develop a model village in his/her area.

The "Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna" will be launched Oct 11, the birth anniversary of social reformer and political leader Jayaprakash Narayan, Modi said in his maiden Independence Day address from the Red Fort.

"If we have to build the nation, we have to start from the villages," Modi said, adding that each MP should select a village in his/her constituency and convert it into a "model village" by 2016.

"Every MP has to develop one village in his or her constituency into a model village under this scheme," Modi said.

"After that every MP has to develop at least five villages during a five-year tenure," he said.

He said that MPs with urban constituencies, Rajya Sabha MPs and state legislators should also choose one village each.

Oct 11 is "Jayaprakash Narayan's birth anniversary. On that day, we will share the blueprint with MPs and the states", said Modi.

Jayaprakash Narayan had led a movement in the mid-1970s seeking the resignation of then prime minister Indira Gandhi after the Allahabad High Court held her guilty of electoral wrongdoing. This had led to the imposition of the 1975-77 emergency.