NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday cautioned citizens against forces “out to spread the poison of casteism in attempts to weaken India’s social fabric” and urged them to defeat these designs.
Addressing Grameen Bharat Mahotsav being held in Delhi from January 4 to 9 with the theme ‘Building a Resilient Rural India for a Viksit Bharat 2047’, Modi, in a veiled attack on the opposition parties, said the villagers must preserve their shared values and heritage in the face of attempts to vitiate ties.
“Our rural identity is linked to harmonious ties in villages.
Many people want to spread the poison of casteism in society, they want to weaken our social ties. We have to defeat these conspiracies and protect and nurture our shared culture and values of village life,” the PM said in an oblique offensive against Congress-led INDIA parties which have been attacking the ruling BJP for “insulting the architect of the Constitution BR Ambedkar”.
Modi also took the occasion to say that his government had worked hard to strengthen the rural economy. The PM noted that farmers were yielding maximum returns from milk production and India needed at least five Amul-like cooperatives to further boost rural incomes.
The PM said his government’s goal was to provide maximum economic assistance to villagers within villages, enable them to engage in farming and create new employment and self-employment opportunities.
“Through PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, farmers have received Rs 3 lakh crore in financial assistance. Over the past 10 years, the amount of agricultural loans have increased by 3.5 times. Livestock and fish farmers are being provided with Kisan Credit Cards. Over 9,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) in the country are receiving financial assistance,” Modi said.
He said his government had consistently increased the MSP for several crops over the past 10 years.
Adding that the government was moving forward with the mantra of national development through rural development, Modi highlighted that as a result of these efforts, 25 crore people had been lifted out of poverty in the past decade with the majority being from rural areas. A recent study by the SBI has revealed that rural poverty in India has decreased from 26 per cent in 2012 to less than 5 per cent in 2024, Modi said.