Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cited various “positive impact” that the Budget- 2022 would have on the all round economic development of  villages across India, from reducing dependence on revenue departments, creating skilled workforce to ensuring better participation of women in financial decision making.

Prime Minister Modi’s remarks came while addressing a webinar on positive impact of Union Budget on rural development. He said the the Budget this year had not only laid a clear roadmap for effective implementation of development schemes but also focused on new technology for speedy completion of projects with quality.

“Budget has given clear roadmap for achieving the goal of saturation of government development schemes benefits and how basic amenities can reach cent percent population,” Modi said.

.“Broadband will not only provide facilities in the villages but will also create a big pool of skilled youth in the villages”.“We have to ensure that the dependence of the rural people on the revenue department is minimized,” the Prime Minister added.

Modi said,”For achieving 100 per cent coverage in different schemes, we will have to focus on new technology, so that projects get completed with speed and quality too is not compromised”.

“Women power is the foundation of rural economy. Financial inclusion has ensured better participation of women in the financial decisions of the families,” Prime Minister further said.”

This was the second webinar in this series. Concerned Union Ministers, representatives of the state governments and other stakeholders were present on the occasion.

Earlier, beginning his address, the Prime Minister  reiterated the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas as inspiration behind all the policies and actions of the government. “Our pledges for the Azadi Ka Amrit kaal will be realized only with the efforts of everyone and everyone will be able to make that effort only when every individual, section and region gets the full benefit of development”, he said.

Modi explained that the budget has given clear road map for achieving the goal of saturation of government development measures and schemes and how basic amenities can reach to cent percent population. “The Budget has made essential allocations for every scheme like PM Awas Yojana, Gramin Sadak Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, connectivity of North-East, broadband in villages”, he said. “Similarly, Vibrant Village programme, announced in the budget is very important for the border villages”, he added.

Elaborating on the priorities of the government, the Prime Minister said that Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) will ensure saturation of basic amenities in the North-East region. “Similarly, Svamitva Scheme is helping in properly demarcating residences and land in villages as more than 40 lakh property cards have been issued. With measures like Unique land identification PIN, dependence of rural people on the revenue officials will decrease,” he said.

Modi asked the state governments to work with a time-line for linking land records and demarcation solutions with modern technology. “For achieving 100 per cent coverage in different schemes, we will have to focus on new technology, so that projects get completed with speed and quality is not compromised also”, he said.

On the government target of 4 crore water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Prime Minister  called for expediting the efforts. He appealed to every state government to be very vigilant about the quality of the pipelines and water that is proposed to be provided.

“One of the key features of this scheme is that there should be a sense of ownership at the village level and ‘water governance’ is strengthened. Keeping all this in Mind, we have to take tap water to every household by 2024”, Prime Minister Modi said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that rural digital connectivity is no longer mere aspiration but has become a necessity. “Broadband will not only provide facilities in the villages but will also create a big pool of skilled youth in the villages”, he said. Broadband will expand the service sector to increase capabilities in the country. He also emphasized need for proper awareness regarding proper use of the broadband capabilities where the work is already completed, he added.

Stressing on the role of woman power as the foundation of rural economy, Modi said,“Financial inclusion has ensured better participation of women in the financial decisions of the families. There is a need to push this participation of women further through self-help groups.”

The Prime Minister also suggested many ways of improving governance for rural development from his experience. He said it will be helpful if all agencies responsible for rural issues sit together on regular intervals to ensure synergy and coordination.

“More than availability of money, it is the presence of silos and lack of convergence that is the problem”, the Prime Minister said.

He said innovative ways such as making the border villages venue of various competitions, retired government officials benefitting their villages with  their administrative experience. Deciding on a day as birthday of the village and celebrating it with a spirit of solving the problems of the village will strengthen the attachment of the people with their village and will enrich the rural life,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister further said that measures like Krishi Vigyan Kendras selecting few farmers for natural farming, villages deciding about removing mal-nutrition and dropout rates would lead to much better outcomes for India’s villages.